Sugar and Spice
by Purpwithapen
Summary: When Jules decides to become a Big Sister to a young girl, she finds she has her hands full. Can she keep her new friend and herself out of trouble, especially when things take a turn towards the dangerous?
1. Chapter 1

####### AN: This takes place between Season 5 ep 3 Run to Me and ep 4 Eyes In. I thought it was cool (and inspirational) that Officer Farrell was such an influence on Jules and it gave her desire to want to help others. So enjoy! #######

Jules Callaghan stopped her jeep in front of the Toronto municipal building. She climbed out and walked inside, her brown hair blowing behind her in the summer breeze. Even out of uniform, she walked with authority and confidence.

She entered the large building, found out where the community services office was and made her way there. She stopped at the reception desk. "Hi. I have an appointment with Janessa Pisca."

The receptionist smiled and put her finger up. She picked up her phone and buzzed Janessa.

A few minutes later a tall brunette with a million watt smile walked through the glass doors. "Hi. Juliana? I'm Janessa, the outreach coordinator."

"Hi." Jules shook her hand. "Yes but you can call me Jules."

"Great. Come on in." Janessa turned and motioned Jules to follow her. She looked at Jules while they walked. "So, how are things at the SRU? Keeping you busy?"

Jules smiled. Subtle, she thought. "Sometimes, yeah. We're on our three day off rotation right now. Then three on, four off."

"Kind of a tough schedule. Regular eight hour days?" Janessa stopped at a wooden door with her name on it, opened it and motioned for Jules to enter.

Jules entered the room and took a seat in an arm chair while Janessa sat in her chair behind her desk. "Some days, yes. It depends on what happens."

"So making and keeping promises might be hard." Janessa sat back and templed her hands in front of her.

"No. I would make sure the child knew about my schedule and would plan activities for my days off." Jules narrowed her eyes at the younger woman.

"Good." Janessa sat forward. "What about a boyfriend?"

The million dollar question, Jules thought. Can I say yes and no? Yes Sam and I are seeing each other again and they all know, but would she see that as a bad decision since we're on the same team? "Honestly, yes. I'm seeing Sam Braddock."

Janessa frowned. "From Team One? Isn't that against the rules?"

"Yes but it is being allowed. The Commander and the team are behind us. And, we have to keep the priority of life. We can't do that, we're done. Out of the SRU."

Janessa nodded her head. "Hmm. Ok." She picked up a file in front of her labeled "Marksen". This is the girl I told you about." She handed Jules the file. She didn't usually do that with prospective Big Brother/Big Sisters, but she knew Jules' police background and profiler position with the SRU would make her want to know everything.

Jules started speed reading the pages and picking out the pertinent info. Callie Marksen, 13. Father left when she was five, mother is working two job just to pay the rent so Callie is alone a lot.

She had a younger brother, Keith, but he died last year from leukemia at the age of eight. The treatments and hospital trips had sucked up a lot of their money, so they'd had to move from a 800 square foot house to a tiny 400 square foot, one bedroom apartment in the less desirable part of town. Callie slept on the fold out couch while her mom took the one bedroom.

Callie seemed to be a good kid. Staying in school, making B's and C's. Not really involved in any extracurricular activities though. Went to school and went home it seemed.

"Poor kid." Jules looked up from the file. "It sucks to be alone so much."

"Yeah. She's definitely got the teen 'tude though." Janessa nodded. "She thinks she's 'all that'." She made the air quotation marks with her fingers. "Just a tough act though. She's really had to fend for herself since her brother died. Her mom's a good person, just really lost now that Keith's gone."

Jules looked back at the file. "CS [children services] got involved because her teachers noticed her becoming more distant and worried that things had gotten bad at home. They knew she'd moved and thought her mom was into drugs."

"Yeah. They didn't find any indication of that but recommended Callie for the Big Brother/Big Sister program. We want to make sure she's got someone to make sure she's ok and keep her from going down the wrong path."

Jules' heart filled. That's exactly what she wanted to do. The situation with the teenage bandits last week had made her want to reach out to more girls in trouble. She had visited Sarah in the hospital while she recovered. She'd told Sarah and Maddie both that they could call her anytime, but she wanted to do more. "That's why I'm here."

"Good. So Callie was reluctant to come down here. It's a long way and she doesn't have the money for the bus. So I told her you'd meet her wherever she wanted."

"Today?" Jules was a little surprised, but she was willing to jump in with both feet. She'd just have to call Sam and cancel their plans to hang out this afternoon. "Great." She smiled.

"Is that ok?"

"Of course." Jules scoffed. "Where is she?"

"The park across from her apartment at 3." Janessa answered. "Let me know if you have any problems and make sure you fill out the time sheet. We like to keep track." She put her hand out and Jules returned the file to her. She opened it and took out the current picture of Callie. The beautiful blond haired, green eyed girl was smirking into the camera.

"Great." Jules took the picture, stood and looked at her watch, 0230. Perfect, plenty of time to get to the other side of town and call Sam on the way. "Thank you." She shook Janessa's hand.

"No thank you. We love it when people take an interest in their community." Janessa smiled and tried to hide the fact that Jules was crushing her hand again.

"Bye." Jules waved as she left.

##### Bleaker St, 0230 hrs #####

I'll bet she doesn't come. The blond haired girl stood by the only window in the apartment by the kitchen table. Why would she? I've been alone this long. I can handle myself. Callie had had plenty of practice lately. Especially since, Keith. Her eyes teared and she wiped at them with the sleeve of her thin sweatshirt.

Mom was always gone and when she was home she was sleeping or crying. Losing Keith had been so hard on them both. She tried not to think about it though. Keith wouldn't want that.

Well, I guess I'll go to the park, she thought. Even if she doesn't come Mitzy said they may be there later.

Mitzy Alistair and her group were the 'less popular' girls. They weren't quite the popular crowd, but they were the ones you wanted to hang with in order to be noticed by the popular kids. Mitzy thought of herself as the leader and pretended she didn't care she wasn't actually in the popular crowd. She was 'way cooler than those jerks' as she often said.

Candace Bleu was Mitzy's right hand. She made sure the other girls stayed in line and did what Mitzy said. Kim, Erica and Hannah were the three lemmings that followed Mitzy and Candace (DO NOT call her Candy, she hates it!) around all the time.

She was shocked when Mitzy had walked right up to her and said she liked Callie's earrings. She hadn't known what to say except thanks.

Then Mitzy had put her hand up and said, "let me borrow them." Callie had hesitated. Those were her mom's favorite earrings and would kill her if they came up missing.

Candace had moved to within inches of her face and said, "Mitzy Alistair is talking to you and wants to borrow your earrings. You should be honored."

Callie had thought about that for a second. Damn, she was right. Mitzy doesn't just talk to anyone. Maybe if I let her borrow, just borrow them, maybe I can hang with them.

She'd given up the earrings and Mitzy suddenly became her friend. Mitzy and her group said hi to her and then they'd said they may be in the park this afternoon and hopefully they'd see her there.

The sun filtered through the thin curtains on the window and she looked at the park again. She grabbed her keys, locked up and walked to the park across the street. No one was there, so she sat in one of the swings and waited.

##### 2 blocks from the park #####

"Wow. Well that's cool Jules." Sam was sitting on his couch counting the minutes until he could see Jules, when she called. He'd been disappointed she put him off until later that night, but he understood the reason.

"Yeah. I hope we can be friends. Well, her and I. Us, well.." Jules smiled mischievously.

"I'm sure you will. Later." He grinned knowingly.

"Yes." Jules pulled into a parking space, shut off the jeep and put her hand on the door handle. "I'm there. See you at, say 8?"

"Oh yeah."

She laughed and hung up the phone, shaking her head. She got out of the jeep and closed the door. She looked at the picture she pulled from her pocket and walked to the girl on the swings with the same face. "Hi. Are you Callie Marksen?" The girl was studying the dirt at her feet.

"Depends. Who's asking?" Callie didn't look up.

"I'm Jules. Jules Callaghan." She took out her wallet and showed the girl her SRU ID.

"You're a cop?" Callie looked at the badge and picture incredulously and rolled her eyes.

"Yeah. Mind if I sit?" Jules pointed to the swing next her.

Callie shrugged. "Free country."

Jules scoffed and sat. Tough girl act. I get it. "I'm on Team One for the SRU. Do you know what that is?"

"Strategic Response Unit. Like those people in that movie S.W.A.T."

Jules tipped her head. "Yeah kind of. Except we do the negotiations. Plus a lot more."

"Do you ever have to kick a bad guy's ass?" Callie looked at her with a little excitement in her eyes.

"Callie. I would rather you didn't swear." Jules gave her a warning look. "And yeah, sometimes."

Callie rolled her eyes at her admonition but then smiled. "Is the team all girls?"

"Nope. I'm the only one."

"I'll bet you could take any one of them in a fight though."

"Ha. Well we're highly trained." Jules looked away and looked back at her with a mischievous smile. "I'll deny it if you ever tell them, but oh yeah."

Callie laughed. This chick is pretty bad ass, she thought. I'll bet it's hard being the only girl. So she asked, "I'll bet it sucks being the only girl sometimes."

Jules considered the question. Damn this kid is smart, she thought. "Mm. Sometimes. They don't really get why sometimes I want to drive by the stores slowly so I can window shop."

"Yeah." Callie got quiet. She hadn't gotten new clothes in years. Not since Keith- No, can't think about him.

"You ok?" Jules held onto the chains and tipped her head forward.

"Yeah. I, haven't, don't get much of a chance to shop." This woman wouldn't understand.

"I hear ya. After my mum died, my dad had no clue." Jules laughed at the memory. "Whenever he knew I needed new clothes he'd go buy t-shirts for me. Only t-shirts. They usually had some kind of muscle car or something boyish on them. And, that was only when he was able to scrape some money together or worked some extra shifts at the factory."

She does know. Callie thought for a second and said, "sorry about your mum. When did she die?"

"I was 14." Jules answered. The memories didn't seem that old to her. She can still remember seeing the police car outside her house from her bedroom window. There was low talking and then his dad, the pinnacle of strength, collapsing to the carpet sobbing.

Callie looked at her and could see the pain in her eyes. She hadn't meant to stir up bad stuff for her.

Jules took a breath. "Anyway, what do you want to do?"

Callie shrugged. She looked at the sky and watched it rainbow with the coming sunset.

Jules looked up too and smiled at the beautiful colors. "What do you like to do?"

Another shrug. She wasn't so sure she could tell this woman about all of the things she'd made out of the junk lying around the house. Especially her doll Isabelle.

She had a few dolls from when she was younger, but this one was special. She'd ripped up a couple of Keith's old t-shirts that smelled like him and used those to make the doll's skin and head. Two different buttons from Mom's button box for the eyes, a penny for her nose, part of the shoestring from Keith's sneaker for the mouth and a couple other shoestrings cut up for he hair.

Callie would never admit it outright, but she slept with that doll every night. Letting the smell of Johnson and Johnson's shampoo and ivory soap. Just like Keith, lull her to sleep.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm getting hungry. Want to go get something to eat?" Jules stood from the swing and looked at her expectantly. They'd been hanging in the park for nearly two hours.

"Um. I- I don't.," Callie looked down. She wanted to go, anything would be better than Ramen for the third time that week, but she had no money.

"Oh, don't worry. My treat." Jules smiled. She looked across the street at the run-down, three story apartment building. "Let's go leave your mom a note."

Callie stood and ran ahead of Jules. "I'll run in and be back out." She hurried across the street, in the building and up to the third floor. She knew she didn't have to leave a note. It was likely her mom would come home and sleep for a few hours before her second job at the convenience store.

She also didn't want Jules to see the rat hole she lived in. She kept it as clean as she could, but it was tiny and crappy. She left a note by the phone and headed back downstairs.

When Jules saw her reappear she pushed off from the back of the jeep. "Callie." The girl turned, the look of disappointment disappearing. "You think I left you?" Jules steered her into the passenger seat. When Callie remained silent, she walked to the driver seat and got in. "Look at me Callie."

Callie looked at her, still unsure about this new person.

"I will not leave you. I hope that we can become friends. That happens by developing some trust. And trust me, I will not hurt you." Jules spoke honestly.

"We'll see." Callie returned the honesty.


	2. Chapter 2

"So, have you ever been to The Art Cafe? It's not far, in Kensington Square." Jules made a turn to head that way.

"We never eat out." Callie answered.

"They have pretty much anything you can think of there. You'll love it." Jules looked at her and smiled.

"Ok." Callie looked out the window, watching her neighborhood disappear behind them. She walked the three miles to and from her school every day, so she always got a glimpse of the beginning of her old neighborhood. They were headed away from even that area now. "So what do you do for fun?" She was curious. She hoped they had something in common.

"Let's see. Um." Shoot guns at the range, she thought. I can't tell her that. She may want to try it and she's a little young. She decided to give her something that maybe they could discuss. "I'm a terrible cook. I mean, I can cook some things, but I am the master of the microwave."

"I'm the master of the Ramen." Callie offered.

"Do you know how to make anything else?"

"Mom taught me to cook a few things. I can make an amazing Spanish omelette. Oh and brownies from scratch. Keith loved-" Callie put her head down.

Jules looked at her as they rounded a corner. Her brother, she thought. "Keith?"

"My, uh, brother."

"Oh? I didn't know you have a brother." She wanted Callie to tell her whatever she wanted or felt comfortable about sharing. Not what Jules read in a file. It would show her trust.

"Had. He died last year."

"Oh. I'm so sorry. How old was he?"

"I don't want to talk about him."

"Ok." Jules pulled into a parking spot in front of the cafe, turned off the engine and turned to look at Callie. "You don't have to." Jules stepped out of the jeep and Callie followed.

They went into the cafe and ordered their supper before Jules spoke again. "So to get back to your question about what I do for fun. I like to read, but most of the time it's work type books. Negotiation tactics, tactical strategies. Some romances sometimes. What about you?"

"Just ones for school. I'm not big on books." Callie looked at her sweatshirt and picked at the sleeves.

"Do you do any sports? Or watch any?"

"Gymnastics. I used to do them. I loved it, but I had to quit. We couldn't afford it any more."

Everything seems to relate to Keith and his sickness, Jules thought. "Which event?"

"Floor exercise. I watch the Olympics for that event , but I like the uneven bars too." Callie looked at her. "You?"

"I did some track in school, but I kinda sucked. Especially the hurdles. I broke my nose twice before I gave that up."

"Ooh." Callie put a hand to her nose.

"Oh it hurt. And bleed! So gross." Jules made a disgusted face.

"Yeah I hate the sight of blood." Callie stuck her tongue out.

Jules nodded. Bonding is good. "The team, of course is into sports. Mostly baseball and hockey. We watch the games together. It's pretty fun. I follow it, but not as heavily as they do. I just laugh when they get upset over a play or people being traded or fired. They make it sound like the world is ending!"

Callie rolled her eyes. "I don't get their obsession with sports. That's all the boys at school talk about too."

Their food came and they ate in silence. Afterwards, Callie thanked Jules for supper and they headed back to Callie's.

Callie was quiet on the way back, but that's because she was thinking. This was pretty fun. She didn't let that show on her face though. Just wait. You don't know if she's coming back. That's what dad said too when he went to get cigarettes eight years ago. Remember your manners and don't sound too needy when you say goodbye.

"Well. You are home." Jules stopped the car in front of Callie's building.

"Thanks for hanging out and for supper." Callie gave her a small smile and opened her door. Don't look back. Only if she calls your name.

"Callie."

Callie turned and looked at her. More hope in her eyes than she wanted.

"I'm free tomorrow if you are." Jules smiled.

Callie smiled. "I get out at 3:20."

"Ok. Do you want me to pick you up there? Then we can go to my house to hang or do something if you want."

"Sure. Either is fine with me." Callie shrugged.

"Ok, I'll see you tomorrow at your school at 3:20." Jules smiled.

"Ok." Callie felt her heart soar. She'd get to hang with Jules again tomorrow. Maybe she is ok, she thought. If she shows. Just wait. Don't get your hopes up in case she doesn't show. She closed her door and returned Jules' wave as she drove off.

"Is that why you ditched us?" Mitzy's angry voice came from behind Callie. "For some old bitch?"

Callie whipped around and faced Mitzy, shock on her face. She didn't see the fist coming from her left. It landed square in her stomach, not once but twice. Callie fell to the ground and vomited up some of her dinner. Her eyes teared up at the pain in her stomach.

"No one stands up Mitzy." Candace stood over her.

Mitzy put a hand on Candace's shoulder. "We may have a use for her yet." She squeezed and Candace buried her size nine shoe in Callie's stomach.

##### Sam's apartment, 0900 #####

Sam and Jules sat on the couch, each a beer in hand. Sam had his arm across Jules' shoulders and that hand intertwined with hers.

"So you didn't tell me how it went." Sam looked at Jules.

"We were kinda busy." Jules looked at him with mischief in her eye.

Sam smiled slyly.

"It actually went really well, I think. I kept asking her questions to try to find common ground, but everything seems to lead back to her brother. He died last year of leukemia. From the sounds of it, she and her mom gave up pretty much everything for his treatments."

"That must've been hard." Sam said.

"Yeah." Jules looked at their intertwined hands. "I think that's how we'll relate the most. We both lost a parent at a young age. Mine died and hers disappeared, but it leaves a lot for the parent left behind."

"It's hardest on the kids." Sam said into her ear.

"Yeah. My poor dad. I'm not sure how he did it. I was pretty wild after mum died."

"But you got through it." Sam put his beer down, used his other arm to pull her into his lap and wrapped his arms around her. He wanted to stay like that for forever. Keep her safe, not let anyone hurt her ever.

She loved when he hugged her like this. She put her head back against his chest and reveled in his warm arms around her. "I did. But for the grace of Officer Farrell go I."

"It's really noble of you to do this. One more thing I love about you." He kissed her cheek.

"Thanks. I love you too." She smiled contentedly.

They sat like that for awhile until Sam commented that one of his legs was falling asleep.

Jules quickly moved next to him and smacked his arm at the same time.

Sam couldn't help laughing.

When Jules picked Callie up at school the next day, she could see that Callie was moving kind of slow.

"Hey. Are you ok?" Jules looked at her concerned.

"I'm fine." Callie got in the jeep and slouched in the seat holding her stomach.

"You don't look fine." Jules hated using that word. Team One avoided it unless they were really F.I.N.E. Fucked up, Insecure, Neurotic, and Emotional.

It was from Sam's JTF2 days. He and his friends had come up with it after a particularly bad mission when Sam had come back to base in bad shape. Broken and looking for the easy way out, Sam had been on the edge. Luckily his friends had pulled him from the brink.

"Let's go." Callie nodded towards the road.

"Ok." Jules let her eyes linger on Callie's painful pose. She pulled out from her parking spot and started down the road towards her house. "Bullies?" Jules looked at Callie.

Calli just shook her head, tears flowing down her cheeks. She'd had a horrible day at school. Not only had Candace punched and kicked her last night, but today during lunch Candace had pushed her into her locker and made her stay there all period until she peed her pants. She had to wear her gym clothes the rest of the day.

If that wasn't bad enough, she hadn't had a chance to take her gym clothes home to wash them so they were kinda stinky. Kids kept holding their noses as she went past them. Eventually she'd hidden in the basement and waited until the final bell rang. She prayed that Jules would be there. She was relieved she was right on time and had run to get in the jeep.

"Callie. What happened? I can try to help you." Jules asked, concerned.

"I, I just didn't feel good today. My stomach hurts."

"Are those your gym clothes?" Jules didn't want to insult her, but she smelled like b.o.

"Yeah. I, spilled at lunch and I didn't have any other clothes."

"Aw, I'm sorry. Listen, I have some old sweats that will fit you. How about you take a shower and I'll put them out for you. I'll wash your clothes." Jules offered as they turned onto her street,

"You- why would you- you don't have to do that. I can wash them when I get home." Callie looked down at her clothes and smelled herself. God she stunk. Maybe she should take the offer.

"It's no big deal." Jules shrugged. "Come on." She climbed out of the jeep and headed up her walkway.

Callie got out and followed. This better not get weird, she thought. She watched TV, there are a lot of pervs out there. She followed Jules inside and followed her as she gave a tour of the house. They went upstairs and into Jules' room with a bathroom. Jules took out the sweats and a t-shirt, a towel and washcloth and put them on the sink counter. She showed Callie how to run the shower, walked out and closed the door behind her.

Fifteen minutes later Callie walked out carrying her clothes away from her and making a face. "Jules?"

Jules walked out of the kitchen, into the living room and to the bottom of the stairs. "Yes?"

"Where's the washing machine?" Callie had looked in the other two rooms that made up the upstairs and didn't see a washer or dryer.

"Down here. Come on down." Jules smiled at Callie. Her clothes were hanging off her small frame, but she smelled much better. She noticed that as Callie got closer. She led Callie into the kitchen and took the clothes from her. She did her best not to make a face as she turned to the left and put the clothes in the washer.


	3. Chapter 3

"So, now what?" Callie put a hand on the kitchen counter and looked at Jules questioningly.

"Well, we've got a couple hours until your clothes are done. Do you know any card games? Or I have Uno." Jules offered.

"I love card games." Callie smiled. She and Keith had played rummy for hours during his treatments and hospital stays. "Uno sounds fun, but I have to tell you I am ruthless."

"Oh really? Well, then this should be fun." Jules smirked and faked surprise when the door rang. "I thought maybe it'd be fun to have more players than just us." She said to Callie before she walked from the kitchen straight to the front door.

"Hey. Come on in."

Callie could hear Jules and two male voices in the living room. She got nervous. Her teammates? What if they didn't like her? And she looked like a bum! She thought about running out the back door until Jules called her to come to the dining room. She took a breath and walked to her left and to the dining room.

Jules was getting the cards out and had a pen and paper in front of her. At the table was the most handsome man she'd ever seen. Dark hair, dark brown eyes and when he smiled at her, her heart skipped a beat. She tore her eyes away from him and looked at the other guy, just as handsome, blond hair and caring blue eyes.

Jules saw Callie staring and stifled a chuckle. Spike caught it and looked at her. He wasn't oblivious to the way the girl had looked at him. He gave Jules a knowing smile.

"Callie, these are my teammates Spike," she put her hand out palm up towards Spike and then pointed at Sam. "And Sam. Sam and I are also dating." She added that last part for information and to discourage Callie's dreamy stare. Jules raised a brow at her and Sam gave her a knowing look. It was Spike's turn to snort.

Jules sat down to Sam's left, Callie finally broke out of her reverie and sat across from Jules and next to Spike. It was a very spirited game. Callie hadn't been kidding. Whenever she got skips, reverses, draw twos and draw fours she saved them for Jules.

"So," Callie played a draw four wild on Spike. "Green. Is Spike your real name?"

Spike picked up the cards with a glare and organized them. He'd felt lucky that Jules was getting all of the bad cards but no one had reversed the direction in awhile. He knew Callie wouldn't hold onto them forever. "No it's Michelangelo. I used to have spiky hair so my old CO gave me the nickname."

Callie frowned. "CO?"

"Commanding officer. I was a policeman before I joined the SRU." Spike explained then groaned when she played another draw four.

"Blue."

"Oh come on!" Spike looked at her cards, only two left, better not challenge her.

"So Callie, do you like other card games?" Sam asked. He was trying to stifle a laugh at the fist full of cards Spike had.

"Oh yeah." Callie couldn't help but smile as she laid another draw four down. "Uno." She hid her mouth behind her cards when Spike's head whipped around to look at her.

Sam and Jules couldn't hold it in and laughed loudly.

"I used to play rummy with my brother. Phase 10 which is just like it. 5 card stud was fun too." She watched Sam change the color to yellow and look at her in question. She put a hand to her mouth and looked at Spike. "Out." It was her third draw four in a row.

Spike threw his cards in the air and they fluttered back down around him. That was it. Callie, Jules and Sam lost it. They were laughing so hard they had tears streaming down their faces. Spike stood and picked up all twenty of the cards he had in his hand. It took him a minute to count up all the points. When he finally finished he looked at Jules. "325."

"Oh my god." Sam out a hand to his mouth and tried to control his laughter but he looked at Callie and it was all over. They were howling in laughter. After a while even Spike couldn't help but join them.

When they finally calmed down, Sam took the deck and started shuffling. "So what's your favorite subject in school?" He looked at Callie.

"Uh, recess?" Callie answered sarcastically.

"You don't like any of your classes?" Jules frowned.

"There must be one you look forward to." Spike looked at her.

"I don't know." Callie shrugged and played a draw two on Spike.

"Ugh. What have I done to you?" Spike speared her with a look.

Callie laughed. "Reverse it." She smiled conspiratorially and wiggled her eyebrows.

"Hey!" Jules laughed.

Callie sat back in her chair and concentrated on her cards. "Art class is pretty cool. I totally suck at Math."

"Well, you are in excellent company." Jules smiled. "It just so happens that Spike here is a math whiz."

Cassie looked at Spike and he nodded. "Good because I was totally lost in algebra today."

"Easy peasy lemon squeezy." Spike grinned and played a reverse.

Cassie laughed and rolled her eyes.

"What?" Spike looked at each of them. "Isn't that what the cool kids are saying nowadays?"

"No." Callie shook her head. "I wouldn't know what they say anyway." She looked at her hand.

"Well then they aren't very cool." Spike put a hand on her shoulder. "'Cause you seem pretty cool to me."

Omigod, he touched my shoulder. Her heart leapt. He thinks I'm cool. "Thanks.' She smiled easily.

"Me too." Jules smiled at her, until Callie played a draw four. "Bugger!"

"Me three." Sam winked at her and laughed at Jules' outburst.

It took a couple hours for them to finish the game which consisted of someone hitting 1,000 points. At first it seemed that Spike would get there first, but Jules ended up the victim of one of what Callie calls the 'rain of fire'. Turn after turn of all the bad cards. By the time Callie went out, Jules had 28 cards in her hand totalling 450 points.

"Man. You are ruthless!" Jules stood and walked to the dryer. She pulled out all of Callie's clothes and called her to come get them.

"Thanks Jules." Callie hugged her. She wasn't sure why she did that. It was an impulse. She took her clothes and went upstairs to change.

Jules was a little stunned, but hugged her back. "You're welcome." After Callie ran upstairs, Jules walked back into the dining room smiling.

"She's a great kid." Spike said. "Do you think she could handle hangin with everyone?"

"Mm. I think we should take it slow. That may be too much too soon." Jules shook her head. She moved to the other side of Sam, next to the wide doorway to the living room and looked up at her room. The door was still closed.

She turned back to Sam and Spike. "She's been through a lot with her brother. I think there's something going on at school, but she doesn't trust

me enough yet to say." She whispered.

"She will. This was a great idea Jules." Sam took her hand in his as she stood next to the chair.

A few minutes later Callie came back downstairs dressed in her school clothes. Her stomach still hurt, but she felt and smelled much better. She smiled at Jules as she walked to her.

Jules put her hands on Callie's shoulders. "Listen, I can understand how hard school can be. I didn't want to go to school after my mum died, but eventually I had to. I hated it. I stayed by myself and nobody talked to me. They didn't know what to say.

Until the day Sally Athers sat by me at lunch. I'd never talked to her before. She always seemed kinda nerdy and quiet. But she told me she was sorry that my mum had died and if I wanted to talk about it she was there. She didn't say anything else the rest of lunch period."

She could see this was hitting home so she continued, "for three days she did that until I finally started talking to her. I told her all about my mom, the way she looked. Her beautiful smile, how she always had a smile on her face, no matter what happened. Everything.

All she did was listen. I felt better after and she and I became best friends. Still are. So what I'm trying to say is that anytime you want to talk, about anything, I'll be here waiting."

Callie didn't know what to say. She wanted to tell them about Mitzy and Candy, but she knew they'd probably run to the school and tell. That would make it worse. If standing Mitzy up was bad, then telling on her would be much much about Keith hurt too much still. "Thanks," she finally said, "but I'm good."


	4. Chapter 4

"Pizza sound good to everyone?" Spike asked as he stood from the table. When he received three nods he went into the kitchen. He came out with the phone by his ear. "Callie. Pepperoni or veggie good for you?" When she nodded again, he disappeared back into the kitchen.

"Ok. How about getting some homework done before the pizza gets here?" Jules raised her eyebrows.

Callie made her "ugh" face. "Come on. Can't we play cards some more?" She begged.

"No. Sorry. Gotta get your homework done. Besides, you have three people here to help if you need it." Jules smiled.

Callie made a face and grabbed her school bag from next to the couch. She pulled out her books and notebooks and put them on the table.

Jules read the covers of the books: AP [advanced placement] History and English, Algebra, Spanish, Chemistry and a few others. "Wow. Callie these are tough classes."

"Tell me about it." Callie scoffed. "Chem and English are the worst. Spanish is easy. I like History and Modern Art." She shrugged. "I used to think Math was easy until Algebra."

"Well, let's start with the Algebra." Spike walked back to his seat at the table and sat down. Jules and Sam went to the living room to let them work.

A few minutes later they could hear Callie and Spike arguing.

"Why would you do that? It makes no sense!"

"That's how you find x."

"Why wouldn't you just do this." There was silence except for a pencil scratching.

"Uh huh." Spike said. "Oh. Ok yeah you could totally do it that way. You get the same answer."

"That makes more sense to me then the way Mrs. Grammarly taught us."

"Ok, let's try it that way though."

Callie groaned. "Ok." There was more pencil scratching and gentle prodding from Spike.

"There. See? You got it."

"Ooh. Ok. Now I get it." Callie smiled. She thought, man Spike was smart! And it didn't hurt that he smelled good too. She went on to the next problem and solved it easily. She finished the remaining problems without an issue. Spike checked each one and they were correct.

"You're good at this. You can't let yourself get frustrated. You found your own way to solve these which is amazing." Spike said, smiling encouragingly.

"Thanks Spike." She smiled warmly. "How are you at Chem?" She picked up her chem book.

Spike put up his hand and twisted it back and forth. "What do you have to do?"

"We're having a quiz on the periodic table." She opened her book to the page and pointed to a large section in the middle. "We have to know all of these by tomorrow." She whined.

"No problem." Spike smiled. So just start by looking at them. Try to memorize them. I found sometimes that if I said them out loud that helped."

Callie picked up the book and started reciting them out loud.

The doorbell rang and Jules ran to the door with her wallet. Sam watched her with trepidation. He knew it was old fashioned, (Jules had pointed it out) but he thought the guy was always supposed to pay. They'd debated it while Callie and Spike were working on homework and in the end had played rock, paper, scissors for it.

"Break time!" Jules put the pizzas on the table and smiled.

Sam walked in and sat in his chair from earlier. Callie and Spike cleared the homework from the table and went to the kitchen to get paper plates and silverware. Spike foraged in the fridge and brought back a can of pop and three beers.

Callie handed out the paper plates, napkins and silverware. When Spike put the beverages on the table, she didn't miss a beat and grabbed one of the beers. Three shocked adult faces looked at her. "What?"

"Uh," Jules was the first to break her shock.

"Oh you want this one?" Callie handed the beer to her and looked at the labels of the other two with interest.

"I don't think so." Spike handed one beer to Sam, put the pop in her hand and took the other beer to his seat.

"Killjoy." Callie pouted. Then she smiled at them.

"Nice try kid." Sam smiled at her as he pulled a slice from one of the boxes.

"It was worth a shot." Callie shrugged and pulled a slice of veggie onto her plate.

Spike looked at Sam and Jules who both shrugged. "I will bet you a 100 point deficit on our next Uno game that you will not like beer."

Callie looked at him and frowned. "That won't help you, but you're on. If I do like it then I get the deficit."

"Yep." Spike nodded and handed her the beer.

Callie wasn't sure about this. She sniffed it before she put it to her mouth. Eww. It smells nasty. She took a sip and nearly vomited. "Ugh! That is disgusting! How do you drink that?" She wiped her mouth with a napkin and then took a big swig of her pop.

"Yes! 100 point deficit! And now, when one of your classmates thinks they're being cool and offering you beer, you can tell them you don't like it." Spike tipped his beer at her and took a drink.

Callie laughed at him.

They ate in silence until every last bit of pizza was gone.

Callie burped. "Uh. Excuse me." She didn't know if that was the beer or the pop, but it was gross.

"I second that." Spike sat back and rubbed his stomach.

Sam and Jules stood at the same time. They cleared everything off the table and Callie brought her homework back out.

"Did you get through all of them?" Spike asked. When she nodded her head he took the book and started reading off the abbreviations. "BH."

"Bohrium." She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to picture the table.

"How do you spell it?"

"Spelling too?" Callie rolled her eyes.

"I'm assuming this is going to be a written test so I would imagine spelling would count."

"Damn." Callie said without thinking.

Spike's eyebrows went up. "Potty mouth."

That made Callie laugh and she apologized. "Ok, bohrium. B-o-h-r-i-u-m?"

"Yes. Good. HF?"

"Halfinium."

"Close."

"Haf, hafni- hafnium?"

"Good! Spelling?"

They went back and forth like that for a good hour until Callie could name and spell all 38 elements correctly. Spike relinquished the homework help to Sam when it came to History. He sucked at it. Sam and Callie went over the battles of the American Civil War for awhile until Callie couldn't take any more and begged him for a break.

The four of them sat in the living room. Callie, Sam and Jules sat on the couch and Spike in the lazy boy next to Callie. They let Callie pick the show which was a mistake because she picked a cheesy tween show.

Sam, Spike and Jules all rolled their eyes at the over dramatic acting in the show but didn't say anything. Once the show was over, all three of them lunged for the remote, which made Callie laugh. Apparently they hadn't liked her show. After a half hour sports show, Callie went back to the table.

Homework would be better than the boring crap they were watching. She opened her History book and started studying for her test.

Spike looked over at Sam and Jules and cocked an eyebrow. "Wow." He whispered. "Homework is better than watching this?"

Sam and Jules both laughed.

"A root canal would be more fun than watching that." Callie said from the table. That caused even louder laughter. She smirked and went back to studying.

After a while, Jules looked at her watch, 1900. She stood and walked into the dining room. "It's getting late. We should probably get you home." She found Callie with her head down writing furiously.

"One more minute. I'm almost done conjugating these verbs."

"Muy Bueno." Jules smiled.

"De nada." Callie answered without even thinking.

Damn, Jules thought, this girl is so smart. She waited until Callie finished and then packed up her stuff. She handed Callie a piece of paper. "Keep this on you at all times. This is my home, work and cell numbers. Call me ANY time." She looked Callie in the eyes with sincerity. "I mean it."

"Thanks." Callie smiled. She does care, she thought. They moved towards the living room and Sam and Spike stood.

"Bye Callie." Spike smiled and waved at her. "It was nice to meet you." He pointed at her and said seriously, "we WILL have an Uno rematch. Don't forget my points deficit."

Callie gave him a full toothy smile. "Bye Spike. You too." She pointed back at him. "Count on it."

Sam came to stand next to Jules. He put a hand on Callie's shoulder. "Nice to meet you Callie. See you soon I hope."

"Bye Sam." She smiled at them and nodded. "Me too. Thank you both for your homework help." She looked from one to the other.

"No problem." Spike answered. "Good luck on your tests tomorrow. Remember to relax. You know this stuff."

"You're welcome." Sam smiled.

"Ok. You guys make yourselves at home, I'll be right back." Jules gave Sam a kiss on the cheek and smiled at Spike.

"Will do." Sam smiled and went back to the couch.

Jules and Callie chatted the whole way to her house. Most of it was about Sam and Spike.

"Sam is so dreamy." Callie sighed. "You're so lucky."

Jules laughed. "Thanks. I think so too."

"Spike is too." Callie ventured a look at Jules.

Jules shrugged. "He's a nice guy, but he's my age you know. A little too old for a thirteen year old." She didn't want to burst her bubble, but she also didn't want her small crush to get bigger and Callie get hurt.

"Can't a girl dream?" Callie laughed. Duh. I knows he's like twice my age, she thought. So is the lead singer of Nickelback, that doesn't keep me from having a poster of him in my room.

"You're so funny." Jules put a hand on her shoulder, then put it back on the steering wheel. They were less than a block from Callie's house. "Jeez!" Jules saw the girl dart into the street at the last second and swerved. The top heavy jeep rocked on its wheels while Jules tried to correct it, but it was too late.

The jeep tipped over on it's side and slid into the curb on the other side of the street, bounced off and slid to a stop in the middle of the road.

"Whoa." Candace's heart was jack hammering in her chest. She knew it had been risky to step off the curb at the last second, but the result was perfect. Now that bitch would know better to hide and sneak off like she had at school today. "Serves you right." She looked around to make sure no one was around and then ran as fast as she could in the opposite direction. Mitzy is going to LOVE this, she thought.


	5. Chapter 5

Sam looked at his watch and frowned. Jules had been gone for quite awhile. He would wait 10 more minutes and call her cell. He hated to be a worry wart, but she should've been back by now.

"I'm sure they're sitting in the jeep girl talking." Spike saw Sam check his watch for the third time in the last five minutes. "Can't help it, I worry about her."

"I know." Spike nodded. He was a little worried himself. It shouldn't take Jules more than half an hour to bring Callie home and come back. It'd already been 45 minutes.

##### in front of Callie's building #####

Jules woke with a start. Oh shit, she thought. What just happened? She was hanging from her seat belt. She looked up when she saw flashing lights come toward her. Wait. What am I doing in this neighborhood? She looked in the passenger seat and expected to see Sam but instead saw a teenager.

What's her name? Callie. That's it. "Callie." Her voice was rough. She remembered screaming when the girl had stepped in front of the jeep. The girl. Did I hit her? Oh god I hope she's ok.

A medic climbed on top of the jeep and touched her shoulder. "Miss? Are you ok?" When she turned to look at him, they were both shocked. "Jules?"

"Steve?" She blinked her eyes and realized blood was running into them.

"Yeah. Are you ok?" He became concerned when he saw the blood and the confused look on her face. "I need a couple c-collars." He called to his partner who was pulling a gurney out of the back of the ambulance. The guy nodded and grabbed them from the inside of the ambulance. He ran over pushing the gurney and looked in the windshield.

"We got another victim. Looks like a young girl." He got on his radio and asked dispatch for another ambulance.

"Callie?" Jules tried to turn her head but Steve held it still.

"We'll get her. Just relax and don't move your head." He had put the collar on but he held her head with his hands. "What hurts?"

"Hurts to breathe." Jules could feel where her seat belt had jarred her ribs. "Ankle too. Is the other girl ok?"

"What other girl?"

"I, I think I hit her. She stepped off the curb. I think." Jules blinked trying to clear the cobwebs.

The other medic had gone through the open back of the jeep and was assessing an unconscious Callie. He put a c-collar on her and waved the firemen over to help him get Callie on a backboard.

Steve looked up and could see the street behind them. Some of the residents had come out to see what was happening but none of them looked hurt. "I don't see anyone else hurt. Should I call your team?"

"My house. Sam and Spike are there." She reached into her pocket, hissing with the pain it caused. She handed Steve her phone.

"I will call, but you have to promise not to move your head when I take my hand away.

"Ok." She tried to look sideways at Callie. "Callie. Wake up honey."

Callie groaned. The firemen and medic had her on a backboard and we're taking her from out through the back of the jeep.

Jules put her hand down and touched Callie's leg as they pulled her out. "Her mom lives in the yellow apartment building right there on the third floor. M-Maggie Marksen. If she's not there she works at a convenience store at night." Jules' breath was ragged the more she tried to talk.

"Easy Jules." Steve said as he was talking to Sam. "We're taking her to Toronto Gen. listens She seems ok. Breathing is a little troubled. listens Ok. Drive slow." He hung up and put the phone in a property bag. "Ok Jules. We're going to get you on a backboard and out of here ok? Just let us do it. You stay still."

"Ok." She let tears slip from her eyes.

"I'm going I start an IV and get some pain meds on board ok? How's the breathing?"

"O-k." She took a breath between each letter.

Not so good, Steve thought. We may have to intubate her. He nodded to the firemen and they slid Jules onto the backboard. She screamed when it jostled her obviously broken ankle. "Sorry Jules." He stood over her once they had her out of the jeep. "Looks like you have an open fracture of your ankle." She nodded and passed out.

"Let's get her in the ambulance." Steve said to his partner. The other ambulance with Callie in it were just leaving.

The police officer had found Callie's mom in their apartment sleeping. She had broken down when she saw her daughter being loaded into the ambulance. She jumped in the back and held Callie's hand.

They loaded Jules into the ambulance and Steve put an oxygen mask on her. He put a pulse/oxygen monitor on her finger tip and saw that her oxygen level was too low. "Hold on Joe." He called up front. "I need to intubate before we get going." It took him only a few minutes to get Jules intubated and they headed to the hospital.

##### Toronto General Hospital, ER waiting room #####

Sam was pacing back and forth when the doors to the ambulance bay opened and the medics wheeled Callie in. "Callie!" He walked beside her gurney. "Is she ok?"

A frantic woman walked on the other side of the gurney. "Get away from her! Who are you?"

"I'm Sam Braddock. I'm Jules Callaghan's boyfriend. Your daughter's Big Sister?" Sam said at her confused look.

"The one that did this?" Maggie screeched.

One of the medics broke off and held the two of them back. "You can't go any further. A doctor will be out to talk to you once they've assessed her injuries."

"That's my daughter you're talking about! She needs me!" Maggie started to walk past him but he grabbed her arms. "They need time to figure out what they need to do to help her."

Maggie glared at him then turned and walked away.

"Listen. I'm sure it was an accident." Sam said to Maggie. "Jules would never hurt Callie. The three of us," he motioned to Spike, "just spent the afternoon with her. She's a great kid."

"Doing what?" Maggie demanded. She was wary of the two handsome men in front of her.

"Playing Uno and helping her with her homework." Spike shrugged.

"Oh." Maggie sat down. A second later she looked up at Sam. "Let me guess, she won."

Spike sat up, causing Maggie to look at him. "She is, relentless." He said the last word with so much emphasis that it made Maggie laugh.

"I don't know how, but that girl is an Uno master." She looked at Sam then Spike. "Let me guess you sat on one side of her." When Spike nodded she smiled. "How many points did she give you?"

"325 in one hand. But she gave 450 to Jules in another hand." Spike smiled.

"That's my girl." Maggie smiled knowingly.

When Jules was wheeled into the ER, a tube down her throat, Sam said, "that's mine." He ran to catch up to Steve and gave him a concerned look.

"Her breathing deteriorated so I had to tube her. I'll make sure someone comes out to talk to you as soon as they can." Steve said before he disappeared behind the double doors of the ER.

Sam walked back to Maggie and Spike who had introduced themselves. "Did they say what happened?"

Maggie looked up at him, seeing the same pain and worry in his eyes. "The cop said they hadn't found anyone that saw what happened yet. They think she swerved to miss a person or animal and lost control." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Or she was driving too fast, or texting you."

"No. Jules wouldn't do that. I've ridden with her. She's one of the safest drivers I know." Spike shook his head.

"Besides, we're SRU, we know better." Sam looked back at the closed doors.

Maggie frowned. "She's SRU?"

"Yeah." Sam looked at her. It always surprised people when they found out that Jules was a SRU Constable. She may not look it, but that girl could handle herself.

Maggie made a face. "Wow." She thought for a second. "I guess Callie having a cop as a mentor would be good for her."

"Trust us. Jules is an awesome person and the perfect person to mentor your daughter." Spike said sincerely.

"Perfect how?" Maggie asked. That was an interesting choice of words.

"She's had some of the same experiences. She knows how hard it is to lose someone you love." Sam looked at her. He sat down next to Maggie.

"Oh." Maggie looked down. Keith. My baby. Her eyes filled and she covered her face with her hands. "Dear god, please don't let her die. I couldn't take it." She sobbed.

Sam turned and pulled her into a hug. He was thinking the same.

Greg, Ed, and Leah ran into the ER. Ed spotted Sam holding a sobbing woman. "Are they ok? What happened?"

"We don't know yet." Sam said and Maggie pulled away from him. "This is Callie's mom, Maggie Marksen." Sam waved a hand at the group and then to Maggie. "Maggie, this is the rest of our team, Team One." He pointed to each person crowded around them. "Ed, Greg but we call him Sarge or Boss, and Leah." Each of them nodded and said, "hi."

"We've heard nothing but great things about Callie." Ed said.

"Sounds like she's a great kid." Greg added.

"Maybe we can introduce her to Wordy's girls sometime." Spike offered then looked at Maggie. "If that's ok with you. He left the team a little while ago, but he's a great guy and his girls would love another friend. They're 12, 10 and 8."

"I'm sure Callie would love that." Maggie nodded.

Just then a doctor entered the waiting room and looked at the group. "Family of Callie Marksen?"

Maggie stood and walked to him. Sam walked with her, a hand on her shoulder. "Yes, I'm her mom. These are her, friends. Friends of the family."

The five people behind her smiled and nodded.

The doctor added his nod. "Callie was lucky. She needed some stitches in her head and arm from the glass. She still has some stomach pain, but we've done a CT scan and it looks good. She definitely has a concussion. She didn't wake up until she got into the ER. So we're going to keep an eye on her stomach in case there's some kind of bleed we didn't see and for the concussion. If all goes well, she should only need to stay a day or two.

"Oh thank god." Maggie let out the breath she was holding. "Can I see her?"

"Of course. We're just moving to her a room. I'll have a nurse come take you up there once she's settled." He looked past them to the empty waiting room and frowned. "Which of you is Sam Braddock?"

Sam said. "I am. Is Jules ok?"

The doctor looked at Sam and then at the rest of the people behind him.

"We're all on Team One of the SRU so yes, we are her family." Sam answered his unasked question. "Please. Is she ok?" Ed put a hand on Sam's back.

"She's a little more critical. We have to keep her intubated for now. She broke four ribs and one of them punctured her lung. We put a chest tube in to drain the fluid and we'll need to leave that until the bruising subsides. We did a CT of her brain and didn't see any bleeds which is a good sign. There is a little bruising so she definitely has at least a concussion." The doctor explained.

Sam listened intently but had one arm across his stomach and the other sitting on it with his hand on his mouth. Greg and Leah moved forward and put their hands on his back. Maggie followed suit.

"She broke her ankle in three places and has an open fracture so the orthopedic surgeon is going to take her to surgery soon to fix it. The next 24 hours will be the most critical for her. We'll be moving her to the ICU after the surgery. I'll have the nurse take you to the surgical waiting room." He finished and waited.

"So she could-" Sam couldn't bring himself to say it. Tears slipped down his cheeks.

"It's a possibility." The doctor nodded. He put a hand on Sam's arm. "I'm sorry."

Ed moved forward and pulled Sam into a hug. "She's strong. She'll be fine." He was trying to sound confident, but his eyes teared up too.

Sam hung on for dear life and nodded. What would I do without her, he thought. No. Don't think that way. She'll be fine.

About ten minutes later the nurse came and showed Maggie to Callie's room and the team to the surgery waiting room. Ten minutes after that Wordy raced into the waiting room looking frantic.

"Where is she? Is she ok?"

Sam stood and walked to Wordy. "She's in surgery for her ankle. It was badly broken." After Sam relayed the rest of the info, Wordy pulled him into a hug. When they broke apart Sam asked, "how'd you hear?"

"I called him." Leah answered. "I knew he'd want to know."

Sam was stunned, but said, "thanks Leah."

"Family is family." Leah shrugged. They knew she was right and if they hadn't called Wordy he would've been pretty mad.

Wordy smiled at her. Fits right in, he thought.

They mulled around the waiting room, making light conversation about this and that until Maggie walked into the waiting room.

"She's awake and asking for Sam and Spike." Maggie nodded to them.

"She ok?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, a little groggy, but she said she feels ok." Maggie answered. She had dark circles under her eyes. "I already talked to her, but could you keep an eye on her for me? If I don't get to work I'm gonna get fired.

I can't afford to lose this job." She looked at them with concern. She knew it was horrible to have to leave her child in the hospital by herself, but her boss had threatened to fire her when she called him.

"No problem." Spike patted her shoulder. "We'll keep her company."

"Thank you so much." Maggie turned from the room before they could see her tears. It was tearing at her heart to leave her girl.

"Come on." Spike patted Sam's back and walked ahead of him.

"She went to work?" Sam asked incredulously. How could she do that, he thought. I couldn't leave if it was my kid.

"Did you see her face? She didn't want to. That asshole boss of hers is making her go in." Spike looked at Sam.

"Someone's going to have to straighten him out." He returned Spike's look with an angry one.

"Copy that." Spike answered then opened the door to Callie's room. He let out a small gasp. The girl in front of them did not look like the one from earlier today. She looked so small.

Her face was black and blue on one side and there was gauze over the cuts that had required stitches. She had her eyes closed so they walked quietly into the room and sat in the two chairs.

"If you're trying to be quiet you failed you elephants." Callie said, her eyes still closed.

Spike let out a laugh. "Hey Callie. How you doing?"

She opened her eyes. "Ok. Sore. My stomach still hurts, but they said it was ok."

"Can you remember what happened?" Sam asked.

Callie looked at them. She already knew Jules was hurt pretty badly. God, how far was Candace going to take this, she thought. She could've killed us. If she told them was that going to make it worse? Would they put Candace in jail? Would that make Mitzy retaliate? What about when Candace got out? Or what if they didn't send her to jail? She didn't know what to do and it reflected on her face.

"Callie. What's going on?" Sam had seen the conflicting thoughts on her face. What is she hiding? Was she part of this?


	6. Chapter 6

He couldn't believe he was thinking it, but Sam asked, "did you have something to do with the accident?" When she didn't look at him, he growled. "Callie."

"Easy Sam." Spike said and kept his gaze on Callie. "Callie? Did you see what happened? We're cops remember? We can help."

Callie knew, even though it meant they would probably hate her, she could not tell them. "No. We were talking and all of a sudden she swerved. I only remember screaming and blackness after that."

Sam criticized her face. "You're lying."

"No. I'm not." She cried. She sat back against the pillows and closed her eyes as Sam stormed out of the room, followed by Spike.

"Well, you can keep your mouth shut." Candace opened the cracked door to the dark bathroom and stepped out. "Good thinking Marksen. You ever tell them and you're dead." She moved forward menacingly. Her demeanor changed in a flash when Spike reentered the room.

Spike looked at the girl. Her face said innocence, but her body language was threatening and tense. "Hi."

"Hi." The girl smiled although it was extremely fake. She looked at Callie and said, "well I'm glad you're ok and I hope you can come back to school soon. I'll see you soon ok? Bye-ee." She turned and walked out of the room closing the door behind her. She left it a crack and stood there for a minute.

"Who was that?" Spike moved back to the seat by her bed.

"Just a friend from school." Callie shrugged. "It was nice of her to stop by huh?"

"Yeah." Spike looked back at the door and saw the shadow there. He turned back to Callie. "What's her name?"

"Candace. Why?" Callie looked at him, imploring him with her mind to stop asking questions. No doubt Candace was lurking by the door, she was good at that.

Spike shrugged and said, "any friend of yours is a friend of mine." He looked back at the door and saw the shadow disappear.

Satisfied, Candace moved down the hall, avoiding the waiting room she saw the blond guy go into. She slunk to the stairs and headed down and out of the hospital. She had to get home before her parents discovered her gone and call Mitzy.

Spike watched the door for 10 seconds and then turned back to Callie. "Seriously, who was that girl?"

"I told you. My friend Candace."

Spike heard her nearly choke on the word friend. Why is she protecting that girl? She obviously was afraid of her and covering up something. It'd taken a lot for him to calm Sam down. He knew Callie was hiding something and it at least had to do with the accident. If anything happened to Jules, Spike wouldn't be able to protect Callie from Sam's rage. He doubted he could control himself.

"Ok." Spike let her off the hook for now but tomorrow he and the team would be doing some background checks on this Candace girl and her associates.

They made small talk and talked about Jules' condition until Wordy walked into the room. "Hey Spike. Hi, I'm Wordy. I'm a friend of the teams." He looked at Spike then the girl in the bed.

"Hi." She half smiled.

"I thought you'd want to know Jules got through the surgery fine. They had to put a couple screws in to get things back in place but she's doing ok."

Wordy put a hand on Spike's back. Spike looked up at him and gave him a relieved smile. "Did they say if that would keep her from the SRU?"

"They're not too worried about that right now, but Ed did ask and they said that with PT it should be fine." Wordy could see that something was going on by their faces so he grabbed a seat. He could feel the elephant in the room. "So, what's going on in here?" He looked at Spike then back at Callie.

"Nothing." Callie shrugged.

"Spike?" Wordy could see his friend stewing about something.

"I should go check on Sam." Spike stood and walked to the door, then paused and looked at Callie. "I'll be back." She nodded and Wordy stood too. He told her he'd be back too and followed Spike out into the hall.

When Spike stopped in the hall and started pacing, a hand to his mouth Wordy stopped. "What's going on?" When Spike stopped and looked at him he gave Spike a knowing look. "I haven't been out of the SRU so long that I'm not able to see when something's wrong."

Spike looked at him. Of course he would know, he thought. "Ok. I think she knows what happened, she just won't say. There was a girl in there when I went back in that was acting totally fake. Her body language was aggressive, threatening and tense. Callie tried to pass her off as a friend that was visiting, but I could tell she's afraid of her."

"Ok, so who is this girl?"

"Callie called her Candace. She didn't give a last name. I think there's something going on between Callie and Candace. Something not good. I'm going to check the school registry tomorrow and see if I can find this Candace girl. Get some background on her."

"Ok. I'll check with guns and gangs tomorrow. It may be unlikely, but kids get into gangs younger and younger these days." Wordy nodded. "Until then we keep someone with Callie. Try to keep this Candace girl at bay until we can figure out what she's up to."

"Good thinking. One of us or a plain clothed. Her mom won't be able to be here much with her two jobs." Spike agreed. "And we keep Sam away. He's too angry to be near her right now. He knows she's lying about what caused the accident."

"Copy that." Ed said breaking into their conversation. Sam had come back from Callie's room in a rage. It had taken he and Spike to keep Sam from ringing the girl's neck.

Spike nodded towards the waiting room, walked to it followed by Wordy and Ed and made sure Sam was with Jules before he told them what he'd told Wordy. They made a plan for what they were going to do tomorrow. They were basically down two members since Sam would not leave Jules' side so Greg had already made sure they were on days off, at least until they knew Jules would pull through.

##### Jules' room #####

Sam sat next to Jules, tears falling freely as he held her hand by his mouth."Please don't leave me." He whispered. "I need you." He stayed that way until he couldn't keep his eyes open any more.

I'll just put my head down for a second, he thought.

He jumped when he felt a hand on his head and fingers running through his hair. "Jules." He smiled in his sleep then realized where he was and sat up.

The sun was already past the 3rd story window when he looked out trying to figure out what time it was. He looked at the clock opposite her bed. 0700. He'd slept for nine hours. He could tell he'd stayed in the same position because his neck was sore when he turned towards Jules. He put a hand on it and rubbed the knot.

She had her eyes open and was looking around frantically. He stood and bent over her, kissing her forehead. "Hi sweetheart."

She felt like she'd been hit by a truck. Why did she have a tube in her throat? Why did her lungs hurt? And her ankle? She frowned and looked at Sam. She picked up her hand and made a writing motion.

Sam picked up a pad of paper from the nightstand and a pen. He handed them to her.

She wrote, "accident?'

Sam put a hand on her head and smoothed her hair. "Yes. You wrecked the jeep."

"Bad?"

"Collapsed lung, several broken ribs and they did surgery to fix your ankle." He nodded and gave her the rundown.

"No wonder I feel like shit."

"Yeah." He leaned down and kissed her cheek. "You scared me dammit." He said into her ear.

She scratched at the paper and turned it. "Can't get rid of me that easy."

Sam laughed and let a tear slip.

"If I could smile I would. I'm awake and ok." Shock appeared on her face and she turned the page of the notebook. "Callie?!"

Sam nodded, trying to keep anger from his face. "She's fine. Some cuts and a concussion. They may let her out today."

A nurse came in and smiled. "Good to see you awake Juliana. How's your pain?"

Jules wrote, "Jules please. About a 7."

Sam read it and looked at the nurse, concerned.

The nurse saw his look and moved to the bed, a syringe in hand. "Don't worry, I came prepared." She took the cap off the needle and stuck it in the port in the IV. "Should kick in right away."

Jules nodded and felt the wave of numbness flow over her. That's better, she thought. She wrote on the pad again. "Why angry at Callie?"

"Don't worry about it. We can talk about it when you're better." He sat back down in his chair.

Huh, a non-answer. "What's going on?"

Sam shook his head. She pointed to the pad hard with the pen. He nodded. Stubborn and commanding even with a tube down her throat. "I think she knows how the accident happened, but she's lying about it."

"Why lie?"

"I don't know. She's protecting someone. I think there's more going on with her than we know."

"No trust yet."

"I know. But if she caused the accident-" the anger had reached his eyes and he looked at Jules the pain of seeing her like this mixed in. "I don't know if I could forgive her if anything happened to you."

She flipped the page back and pointed to "awake and ok."

He nodded. "The team's out there. Would you be up to having them in? I know they'll want to say hi."

She nodded. He left and returned a few minutes later with Ed, Sarge, Wordy and Leah.

She wrote. "Hi guys." Then, "get those looks off your faces. I am OK."

They all let out nervous laughs. They knew she still had tubes coming out of her, but it was still hard to see her that way.

"You had us worried Jules." Greg gave her a concerned smile.

She pointed to "I am OK." Then wrote, "won't be back for awhile Boss, sorry."

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure you'll be back as soon as you can convince them to let you."

"Hell yeah. Tomorrow?"

Everyone laughed when they read it. "Not quite." Greg patted her arm and stepped back so Ed could sit down.

"Hey Jules. I thought you were going to help this kid with homework and stuff, not get yourself all broken up." Ed kidded.

"Wasn't the plan. Is Spike with her?"

"Yeah." Ed nodded. "He said to tell you he's glad you're awake and he'll stop by later."

She nodded. Leah sat down next. "Hey Jules. I hope you don't mind but I called Wordy. I figured you'd need all of your family here."

"You're the best. Thanks Leah."

"You bet. Rest up and let me know if you need anything." She stood and let Wordy sit down.

Despite the tube, Jules did her best to smile. "Hey."

"What did I tell you about driving like your ass is on fire?" Wordy took her hand and squeezed. The people behind him grinned. They all knew Jules only drove like that in the SUVs and when she had to. In her personal vehicle she was always five under the speed limit.

"You know me."

"Yeah." Wordy squeezed her hand again. "I do. I'm glad to see you awake Jules. The girls will be thrilled to know Aunty Jules is feeling better."

"Tell them I said 'love you' and 'see you soon'."

"Will do." He gave her hand one last squeeze and stood. "We should let her rest." He said to the group. He turned to Sam. "You too."

"I'm good. I slept here." Sam moved to go past Wordy when the bigger man put a hand on his chest. "Come on Sam. You at least need to go home and change. Come have breakfast with us."

Sam looked at Jules who waved her hand at him and let her eyes flutter shut.

"She needs to sleep." Wordy said gently.

"Ok." Sam said reluctantly.

Ed and Wordy put a hand on either side of Sam's neck and steered him out of the room.

Two hours later, Sam stepped back into Jules' room, belly full, showered and shaved. She was still sleeping. He turned on the tv, sat by her bed and waited.

Spike had spent the night in Callie's room, keeping watch. Her mom showed up at 0800 after she'd gotten some sleep after her convenience store job. She was only able to stay an hour before she had to head for her day job. During the time Maggie was with her daughter, Spike got the news that Jules was awake from Ed. He'd been so happy he crushed his cup of hot coffee and spilled it all over his hand.

A nurse came running when she heard his shouts and took him to a sink to run cold water over it and have it looked at. Luckily, it was only 2nd degree burns and they just wrapped his hand up in gauze.

Spike look at his hand and thought, well this is going to make researching Callie's so called friend Candace a little more difficult. You idiot. He left the hospital, knowing that a plainclothes officer was sitting with Callie.


	7. Chapter 7

Spike was sitting in his living room with a hot cup of Timmy's next to his laptop while he typed away. He was staring intently at the screen, his earpiece in. There were two Candaces at Callie's school but had narrowed it down.

Greg was talking to the principal of Callie's school while Leah was walking the building looking for Candace. Ed went back to Callie's neighborhood to talk to neighbors and to try to find a witness to the accident. None of them were in uniform, but they had their badges and showed them to anyone that needed to see them.

"We think she may have had something to do with a car accident last night." Greg said to Principal Grey. The older woman sat back in her chair, contemplating.

"Boss." Spike said into his headset.

Greg put up a finger to the principal and said, "go ahead Spike."

"Ask her about," Spike looked at his screen, "Mitzy Allistair. It looks like she and Candace are tight. There are a bunch of pictures of them together and with three other girls on both of their Facebook pages. Maybe they're some kind of girl gang?"

"Ok." Greg turned to the woman in front of him. "Do you know a Mitzy Allistair?"

"Yes. She and Candace Bleu are friends. At least I think they are. They are together a lot, but teenage girls.." She rolled her eyes and fluttered her lips.

"What do you mean?"

"Well they're so emotional at this age. One day they could be friends, and the next they hate each other."

"Do you think they could be part of a gang? Do they hang with any older kids?"

"A gang?" She frowned at him. "No. The five of them stay together. It's not often they hang with anyone outside their group. I think it's a social thing. Trying to be considered cool."

"You seem pretty knowledgeable about the kids." Greg tipped his head. "It's not often the Principal knows so much."

"Well I take the time. If I don't know what's going on, I can't deal with it when it comes to my office."

"True." He nodded. "Is there anything else you can tell me? Have you seen Mitzy or Candace talking to Callie?"

She stuck out her bottom lip in thought. "Once in awhile. There was an incident with Callie yesterday. Poor girl. Apparently she waited too long to go the bathroom and wet herself. That's what one of the kids said. I tried to find her to ask her, but she cut her last class and disappeared after school."

"You don't think someone made her wait too long?"

"That's what I was trying to find out. If there's bullying going on here I want to know about it. We have a zero tolerance policy." She put her hand out palm up and then laced it with her other hand in front of her.

"Ok. thank you for your time." Greg smiled, stood and went into the hallway. They had already confirmed that Candace and Mitzy were in school today. "Spike, did you get all that?"

"Yeah Boss. I'm looking into both of their backgrounds." He stopped typing for a second. "That's why Jules had to wash her clothes. Poor kid must've been too embarrassed to say anything."

"Did she say anything at all?"

"No but she was moving kind of slow. I didn't think anything of it, but what if someone punched her in the stomach and made her pee herself?" Spike ran a hand through his hair. He should've asked her. She may not have admitted it. Fear is a big motivator.

"It's a possibility. Leah, I'm coming to you."

"Copy. I'm in front of room 202. I believe Candace and Mitzy are both in there. That's what their schedules say." Leah stood next to the door, but out of sight of the kids.

Greg met Leah at the door of the room just as the bell rung. They both stepped inside and blocked the door before anyone could leave. He whispered to the teacher.

"Mitzy and Candace." She called out. "Come up here please. Everyone else can go."

There was a collective "oooooh." From the kids before they filed out.

Mitzy gave Candace a look, then packed up her books and headed to the front followed by Candace.

"This is Sergeant Greg Parker and Constable Leah Kerns. They need to talk to you." The teacher introduced them, gave both girls a stern look and left the room.

"About what?" Mitzy asked. If they even utter Callie Marksen, I'm going to kill Candace, she thought.

"Do you know anything about an incident yesterday with Callie Marken?" Greg asked studying her face.

"You mean when she peed herself? Everyone knows about that. So gross." Mitzy kept her face neutral but laughed. She'd learn to do that whenever her parents fought so they couldn't see how much it upset her,

"Yeah. Disgusting." Candace added, making a face.

"You wouldn't happen to know why she peed herself would you?" Greg asked. These two are masking well, he thought. They definitely had something to do with it though.

Mitzy looked at Candace. You better not tell, her eyes said. "No. Why would we?" Mitzy said.

"Yeah. She's gross. We don't associate with people like her." Candace said with disgust.

"Boss she's lying." Spike said angrily. "Sending her school picture to your PDA, if that's the same person you're talking to, she was at the hospital last night."

Candace looked at Mitzy. They both had noticed the earpieces in the adults ears and now it seemed someone was talking to them. We deal with her after school, Candace's look said. Mitzy nodded imperceptibly.

Greg took out his PDA and compared the picture. It was the same girl. "So Candace, if you don't associate with her, why did one of my officers see you at the hospital in Callie's room?"

"Oh. Yeah he's cute." Candace gave them a shy smile. "I thought about it and felt bad for her so I went to see her."

"You went without me?" Mitzy frowned at her.

"Uh huh." Greg looked at them both. A couple good actresses, but not good enough. He looked at Leah.

"Where were you both last night around 8pm?" Leah asked.

"Home." They said together.

"Ok." Leah gave them a small smile. She did not like either of these girls, at all. "You can head back to class." Both girls smiled and left. Leah watched them walk down the hall, their heads together.

"Those two are involved more than we think." Leah turned and looked at Greg.

"Definitely." Greg closed his eyes and nodded. "Eddie?"

"No one claims to have seen anything." Ed stopped on the street in front of Callie's apartment building, looking around. "Jules and Callie are our only witnesses."

"All right Ed, you head to the hospital and talk to them. Hopefully Jules is up for it. Make sure that if Callie gets discharged you take her home. I'm thinking we may have to put a protective detail around her. These girls aren't done." Greg shook his head as he and Leah walked to the parking lot.

"Copy." Ed ran to his vehicle and jumped in. He was about to take off when a young boy waved to him. Ed waved but something about the kid's face made him get out and walk to him. "Hey. I'm Ed Lane with the SRU. What's your name?"

The boy looked at the badge the man flashed then turned his head and had a coughing fit. When it finally subsided he said, "I saw the accident."

##### hospital, Callie's room, 1215 hrs #####

Candace jumped out of the cab, paid the driver and ran into the hospital. Man, she thought, Mitzy was so mad the cops had talked to them. Her shoulder was still sore from where Mitzy had grabbed her arm and twisted until she'd cried out. That bitch Callie is gonna get hers, she fumed as she climbed the stairs. This is the last time she interferes in our business.

She made it to the med/surg floor and looked through the glass in the window. Just a few nurses around. She cracked the door and looked down the hall towards Callie's room. She slowly crept out the door and down the hallway. She could hear an older female voice talking to Callie.

"I'm sorry baby, but you know I have to go sleep before I go to the Kwik-E."

"I know mom, I just. Well I was hoping you could take me home."

"I'm sorry honey. Ed called and said he was on his way. He'll take you home."

"Ok." Kissing sounds and the door pulled open.

The hall was empty when Maggie left Callie's room. She went to the nurses station and told them that Ed Lane would be taking her daughter home and to keep an eye on her until he got here. She went to the elevators and was gone.

Candace stuck her head out of the room across the hall, then snuck into Callie's room. She found Callie sitting on the edge of the bed. She looked up and looked scared. Perfect. "Let's go." She snarled.

Callie had seen that murderous look in Candace's eyes before and didn't dare defy her. She stood and followed Candace as they snuck out of her room and then the hospital.


	8. Chapter 8

Ed walked into Jules' room and smiled. They had removed the tube and she was breathing on her own. "Hey. You look much better "

Jules wheezed and said, "thanks."

"Come on. You heard what the said. They'll put you back on the ventilator. No talking." Sam admonished and squeezed her hand. He handed her the pen and paper.

Jules looked at him with love and a little annoyance. She wrote, "what's up?"

"Just came to check on you." Ed shrugged.

"Nice try." She pinned him with a 'yeah right' look.

Ed laughed. Can't get anything past her, he thought. "I need to talk to you about the accident. What do you remember?"

"Callie and I were talking. Then I saw someone step off the curb."

"Male? Female? Height? Hair?"

Jules put a finger up while she wrote. She coughed and laid back against the pillows. Shit that hurt. They still had the chest tube in as they said her lungs were still draining. That's why they didn't want her to talk. Save her breath.

"Jules." Sam frowned.

She opened her eyes and shook her head. She pointed to the top of the paper where she had written Yes, No and Ok and put the pen on Ok.

Sam sat back, but he watched her face carefully. He'd broken his ribs a couple times and knew how bad it hurt to breathe.

Jules finished what she was writing then turned the notebook over so Ed could see. "Young girl, maybe teen. Happened fast."

Ed pulled out his PDA, thumbed through it, walked closer and showed Jules the picture of Mitzy Alistair.

"No." Jules pointed. He left swiped and showed her Candace's photo. She narrowed her eyes. "Maybe. It was dark, I barely saw her in time."

Ed nodded. What the hell is going on, he thought. Why would Candace and or Mitzy want to cause Jules to crash? To hurt or kill Callie? Why? He was going to find out. "Thanks Jules. I gotta go."

Sam whispered to Jules, she nodded and he followed Ed out. "What's going on?" Sam said when the door to Jules' room slid closed.

"I'm not sure." Ed filled Sam in on what they knew so far and that Jules had possibly ID'd the person responsible, Candace.

"Why would they want to hurt Jules and Candace?" Sam frowned. He hated that he'd possibly misjudged Callie, but she she still hadn't told them what she knew. "Maybe Jules was just a bystander. She was gunning for Candace." Sam looked at Ed and they both took off running towards Callie's room.

The nurses jumped up when the two men ran past them and followed them into the teenager's room. All four of them were shocked to find the room empty.

Ed put his earpiece back in. "Boss! I'm at the hospital. Callie is gone." He turned to the nurses. "When did she leave?"

Sam pointed to his ear and then Ed. Ed reached in his pockets, pulled out an earpiece and receiver and handed them to Sam. He knew Sam would want to help and had grabbed it.

The nurses looked at each other and shrugged. "I didn't see her leave. It had to be after her mom left about 45 minutes ago." "Me either." The other nurse agreed.

"They have a 45 minute head start on us. That's a big area to cover." Greg said through the earpiece. "We're at Spike's we'll pick you up at the hospital"

"Copy." Ed put a hand to his mouth after he talked.

"What is this all about?" Sam asked.

"There was an incident a couple weeks ago involving a classmate of theirs." Spike said reading off his screen in the SUV. "A kid named James Whaley had been found in the girl's locker room taped naked to a bench with his butt in the air and a," he swallowed, "dildo in his anus. Pictures had been posted to Facebook and the school chat site but were taken down shortly after. What is wrong with these kids?"

He shook his head and continued. "James told the teachers that rescued him it was Candace, Mitzy and her group. Apparently he had turned Mitzy down as her date to the dance last week. And," Spike raised his brows, "it looks like he said Callie had walked in while they were taping him up.

She tried to stop them but Candace threatened her and made her help them. When the principal confronted each of them none of them would talk. Even Callie said she didn't know about it. It was he said/she said so no one was punished." He looked at Greg through the rearview. "Principal didn't mention that."

"No she didn't." Greg said angrily. "We're here Eddie. Sam you coming with us?" He put the phone to his ear and started talking to Winnie.

"Yep." Sam climbed into the back with Spike, Leah gave Ed the front seat and climbed in next to Sam. "Jules said to be careful and make sure Callie is ok."

Everyone nodded. "Ok thanks Winnie." Greg said into his phone and hung up. "Ok. Team Two is standing by at the barn until we get a location." Everyone nodded. They were off duty and therefore not allowed to be armed. This would be a hot call for whoever was on duty.

"Where would they take her?" Sam asked.

"I'm assuming they, Candace and or Mitzy would want to be somewhere private. We questioned them both earlier so they know the cops are looking into the accident. They'd want to silence any witnesses, especially Callie since she knows about the previous incident as well." Spike said looking at a map of the city. "We have to narrow it down."

"Witnesses." Sam said and looked at them in panic. Everyone jumped out of the SUV and ran inside the hospital going straight for the stairs.

##### Jules' room 5 minutes before #####

Jules opened her eyes when she heard the door open. Sam and the nurse had just left. Who would be coming in now? She frowned at the young girl in front of her, holding a scalpel. "Who?" Jules ground out. Then she remembered the photo Ed had shown her. Mitzy.

"Doesn't matter." Mitzy shrugged. "You couldn't help yourself could you? Had to be her. That smart assed bitch. Taking AP classes and thinking she's so smart. I could use a Big Sister." She pointed the knife at her chest. "My home life sucks. But no, it had to be her. She paints like a poet. Did you know?"

Jules shook her head and grabbed the pen and pad. She knew she could use the pen as a weapon if she had to. "Everyone has something about their life they don't like."

Mitzy read it out loud. "Yeah right." She scoffed. "What's so horrible about having a cool job like an SRU officer and dating one of the most gorgeous men I've ever seen? Nothing." She pointed the knife at Jules menacingly. "You're just like her. So high and mighty. Think you're so cool. Well you need to be brought down a peg just like her."

"Sometimes it sucks. Especially when you can't save someone from themselves." Jules turned the pad and looked at her pointedly.

"Aww." Mitzy stuck out her lip. "You think you need to save me? Please. The only person you should be worried about is yourself." She moved closer to Jules's neck with the knife.

"STOP!" Sam ran into the room as soon as the door slid open, Ed Leah, Spike and Greg right behind him. "Don't you touch her!" He let his anger fill the room.

"What's the matter boyfriend? Can't live without her?" Mitzy sat on the bed, the knife at Jules' throat.

"Yeah actually." He looked at Jules, 'don't worry' in his eyes.

"Pathetic." Mitzy laughed. When Sam moved closer she put the knife on Jules' skin.

"Not as much as you." Sam growled when he saw drops of blood fall from Jules' neck.

"Back down Sam." Greg pulled his arm and moved him behind Ed, Leah and Spike who were standing shoulder to shoulder. "Let me talk to her. Ed start moving towards the end of Jules' bed. Try to get close enough so that we can make a move if we have to." Greg whispered. "Leah you're my second." She nodded.

Ed nodded and started moving slowly to his left.

Greg stepped forward and walked to within three feet of Mitzy. Leah had moved along the wall towards the bed and stopped when Mitzy looked at her.

Mitzy's eyes were wild now as she tried to watch all three of them. "All of you stop moving!" She pushed the knife into Jules skin and she hissed. Sam moved forward and then stepped back when Greg put a hand up.

"Mitzy. Look at me." Greg pointed to himself. "What are we doing here? What do you have against Jules?"

"She's just like that bitch."

"Who? Callie?"

"Yes! They both need to learn a lesson."

"What's that?"

"That they are NOT better than me. So cool and smart, dating.." Mitzy wiped her eyes with her free sleeve. "No one should think they're better than anyone else."

"I'm.. not better.. than you." Jules said between breaths. It took too much effort to speak so she wrote. "The only difference between us is that I believe in myself."

Mitzy read it out loud and cried harder, pulling the knife away.

"That's true for everyone. Look at me. I used to be an alcoholic. I lost my wife and son. But I pulled myself together and believed in myself. Now I have my son back and we're stronger than ever. I'm stronger than ever." Greg looked at her with sincerity.

Leah moved the last foot and took the knife from Mitzy and got no resistance. Ed moved forward and pulled Mitzy to a standing position, pulling her hands behind her back.

"I'm, I'm sorry." Mitzy sobbed.

Sam rushed forward and to Jules' side. She smiled at Sam and looked in his worried eyes. "O..k." She reassured him. "Callie?"

Greg moved to in front of Mitzy, meeting her eyes. "Where is Candace?"

Mitzy shook her head. "Private."

"Where?" Greg bent down when her head dropped and kept eye contact with her.

Sam stood and grabbed the front of her shirt. "Where are they Mitzy?" He said angrily. "If something happens to Callie, I'm going to make sure you get charged with accessory to murder." He replaced Greg's face with his rage filled own. "Do you understand?"

Mitzy started to cry again. She hadn't wanted to go this far, but she was so angry. She couldn't spend her life in jail. She couldn't. "Bayside Street warehouse." She looked in Sam's eyes with urgency. "Hurry."


	9. Chapter 9

Ed held Mitzy's arms behind her and gently led her out of the room. Ed nodded at one of the officers that had rushed up when the nurses had called. He handed Mitzy to them and said, "we'll be down later to give our statements. Book her for attempted murder and battery on a police officer to start." The officers nodded, put handcuffs on Mitzy and led the sobbing girl away. They recognized Ed from Team One and knew he would be true to his word.

Leah, Spike, Greg and Sam were right behind him. The nurse had already rushed in to check on Jules and tend to her cut. It wasn't very deep so they just put a bandage on it.

Greg had his phone to his ear as they all rushed back out of the hospital. They hoped Mitzy's assault on Jules hadn't kept them from saving Callie. "Thanks Winnie!" Greg yelled as they climbed back in the SUV. "Team Two is meeting us there, but we're closer. They're going to let us take the lead on this. Halloren approved for us to suit up."

Everyone nodded and shut the doors to the SUV. Greg drove like his ass was on fire to the warehouse. They all jumped out and ran to the back of the SUV. Sarge had stopped at the SRU on the way to the warehouse and they had loaded up. Everyone grabbed their gear and dressed as quickly as possible while Ed called out assignments.

"Sam, Sierra one. Get us a topside view. Spike, get a schematic for this place, let's see what we've got. Leah you're with me on entry. Boss."

"Fast is good Eddie." Greg nodded at Ed.

Sam started running around the large building. He found a fire escape and climbed it. There were open windows along the way so he whispered, "boss, several windows open on black wall. It'd be a good place for a Sierra two if we need it. I'm going inside."

"Copy Sam."

Spike walked over and showed them the schematic. It was pretty open inside with a metal staircase up to the second level.

"What do you think for entry Ed." Greg looked at him.

"There's a door right here, so I say we go stealth until we can get eyes on." Ed pointed with his hand at the metal door next to the large garage door.

"Copy." Leah, Spike and Greg said.

"Spike, I need you to put your lock picking skills to work. Then fall behind Leah once we make entry. Greg you're the caboose. Cover our six."

"Copy."

Spike grabbed his kit and they all walked cautiously to the door, guns drawn. They covered Spike while he picked the lock. Team two arrived just as Spike got the lock open. Greg gave them the signal to hold up.

Sergeant Ken Waters jumped out of his SUV and ran up to Greg. "Any eyes in yet?"

"Sam?"

"I have the solution." He looked through his scope and could see that Candace had wound ropes around Callie's middle and the ropes were hooked on a big crane, suspending Callie above Candace and 20 feet in the air. Candace was holding the crane controls and laughing maniacally. Sam relayed this info to the teams.

"I'm sending Eric to the fire escape as Sierra Two. Both of you hold." Greg said into his headset. "Everyone we are on channel 2." The five remaining people on Team Two nodded. "TLs coordinate how you want your people and do it fast. We need to get in there."

Sam flipped the safety of of his rifle and started sniper breathing. It was a good thing he did because Candace started playing with the controls and making Callie bounce up and down. "Guys. Get in here. Subject has the victim tied, the ropes are on a hook and the subject is bouncing the victim up and down. She's about 20 feet up. The fall could be fatal."

Without wasting a second, Ed, Spike, Greg, Leah and Gene and Tom from Team Two went through the door and spread out around the floor. Ken, Bailey and their Team Lead Tony entered from the back and surrounded the other side.

Greg stepped forward. "Candace! I'm Greg Parker from the police Strategic Response Unit. Can you put the controls down? I just want to talk to you."

"No!" Candace continued to play with the controls. Callie was screaming and crying. A couple guys looked around, grabbed a tarp and spread it between them. They walked back and forth, staying with Callie's swinging body.

"Eric. I need you to aim for the rope holding the hook. If I can't get her to drop the controls we'll have to chance dropping the victim to the tarp."

"Copy." Eric moved his sight and concentrated on the swinging rope.

Greg tried again and stepped to the bottom step. "Candace. Please. You don't want to do that. Hurting Callie would be a big mistake."

Candace stopped and looked at him. "She shouldn't have stuck her nose in where it doesn't belong." She looked back at Callie and picked up the controls again.

"Time for a reality check Boss." Spike said softly.

"Copy." Greg whispered and went up a step. "Hey Candy."

"Don't EVER call me that!" Candace spun and nailed him with a murderous stare.

"Ok. Sorry." Greg put a hand up, palm down and moved up a step.

"Stop that." Candace growled.

"Do me a favor, look around you." He stopped and waited.

She hadn't seen all the people move into the space. There were a lot of them and they all had guns pointed at her. Her heart skipped a beat. She took a step back, her hand barely holding the remote.

"They all have their guns pointed at you. I have two other guys in higher spots. Do you know what a sniper is?"

She looked up, trying to see them, one hand to her heart. She nodded.

"You know what they're trained to do?"

"Kill." She spun around and looked at all of the men in the room. Oh god. They're going to kill me, she thought.

"They never miss. But I don't want to have to tell them to do that here. You're only 14. You have your whole life ahead of you." He took a step up and shook his head. "Please don't make them do that."

"Close enough." Spike said nervously.

"Just put the controls down and we can all go home." Greg put his hand out, palm down.

Candace looked at her hand, then at Callie. The rage came back and nothing else she'd heard mattered. She started to lift the remote and put her finger out like she was going to push the down button.

Greg made a split second decision and said "Eric!"

A shot rang out and both Candace and Callie screamed

Candace dropped the remote and dropped to her knees, her arms over her head. When Greg pulled her to a standing position she was shaking like a leaf. "Oh my god he shot me," was all she could say.

Greg put a hand on each of her arms, smiled and said, "no." He pointed to the rope that used to have the hook and Callie on it. Shock filled Candace's face. Gene had run up the stairs when the shot sounded and was now putting the cuffs on Candace.

Callie had screamed when she had dropped to the safety of the tarp below. When they lowered her to the concrete she looked for a familiar face and saw Spike. Fresh tears fell from her eyes. "Spike."

"I gotcha." Spike undid the rope around her and pulled her into a hug. They stayed that way for several minutes. Leah walked over and put a hand on Callie's back and rubbed while she cried. "Are you ok?" Spike pulled back from her.

She wasn't sure, honestly, but she nodded. "I'm so sorry." She put her head down.

"For getting kidnapped and hung from a hook?" Spike looked at her with disbelief. "Come on, we'll get you checked out." He put an arm around her and walked her to the ambulance.

"Great work Teams." Greg met up with everyone on the ground floor. "Eric, good shot."

"Thanks Sarge." Eric nodded.

Sam and Eric bumped fists and smiled at each other.

Everyone walked outside and loaded up their gear. Sam looked to the ambulance at Callie. She was sitting on the back, a blanket over her shoulders and talking to Spike and Leah.

"She was scared." Greg said as he put his gun away. "She was being bullied and she didn't know who to trust."

"I know. She wasn't the only one." Sam nodded, looking at his gear. "Trust works both ways." He looked at Callie, Spike and Leah again.

Greg put a hand on Sam's shoulder and smiled. "That it does."


	10. Chapter 10

Sam looked back down at his gear and sighed. He walked over to Spike, Leah and Callie.

Spike looked at him and saw the seriousness in his eyes. He looked at Leah and hitched his head towards the SUVs. She nodded and followed him.

"You ok?" Sam asked.

She looked down and nodded. She didn't know what to say to him.

Sam sat next to her with his knees on the bumper and his elbows on his knees.

"I'm sorry. I should've told you about Candace." She started to cry.

He put a hand on her back. "Yes, but I understand. You were scared. If I were in the same position I would've been scared too."

She looked at him and sniffed. "You would?"

"Yeah." He scoffed. "Were we just in the same room?" He furrowed his brows. "That chick was scary."

Callie laughed. "No kidding."

"But," his face reverted to serious, "if you're in trouble you need to tell someone. We're the police, we can help you."

"I didn't know if I could count on you." Callie shrugged and looked at him. She looked at the warehouse. "Then you all came running in and saved me from Candace." She looked back at him. "Is that the kind of stuff you do all the time?"

He nodded. "Every day."

"You're like, superheroes or something."

"Or something." He smiled at the admiration in her eyes.

"Is Jules going to be ok?" Her eyes filled with concern.

Sam looked at the medic, "is she ok?" When the medic said yes he stood and pulled her to standing. He put his arm around her as they walked to the SUVs. "Let's go see."

They piled into the SUVs with Leah grabbing a ride home with Team Two.

Sam and Callie walked into Jules' room while Greg, Ed and Spike waited in the hall.

Callie gasped at the sight of Jules in the bed, tubes and IVs coming out of her, her leg in a cast from her toes to her knee. Fresh tears fell from her eyes as Sam steered her to the chair next to the bed.

Jules had her eyes closed, but opened them when she heard someone sit in the chair. "Hey...you." She choked out and then started coughing. She sat up a little and laid back on the pillows with a pained expression. Sam frowned and started to move forward but she stopped him with a look.

Callie's eyes filled and spilled over. "I'm so sorry Jules. I didn't mean for you to get hurt."

Jules took her hand and squeezed. She grabbed the paper and pen that was in her lap and started writing. "Not your fault. Candace and Mitzy."

"I know, but I should've said something." Callie looked back at Sam who put a hand on her shoulder. She turned back when Jules tapped the paper.

"Not your fault." She tapped. "I am here for you. You can tell me anything." She underlined 'anything' twice. When Callie nodded, she wrote, "so if you're in trouble we will do whatever we can to help."

Callie shook her head vehemently. "I, why? Why me? You don't even know me."

"I know." Jules turned the paper. "I see so much of myself in you."

"You do?"

Jules nodded. "I was so lost. After my mum died I wished I could be with her."

Callie let a sob escape and covered her mouth. Sam pulled a chair next to her and put a hand on her back.

"But a woman named Officer Farrell helped me. She became my friend and I knew if I ever needed her, she was there." Jules tipped her head and caught Callie's eye. "Just like me. Any time, any day. Call me. I may be at work, but I will be there as soon as I can."

"That goes for me and the rest of the team too." Sam looked at her with sincerity. "You've got all of us."

Callie sniffed and looked at each of them. Wow. Really? Anything? That seemed impossible to her. She thought of Keith and her heart broke into a million pieces. She started to cry again.

Sam looked at Jules. She gave him a 'wait' look.

"My brother Keith," she took a breath. "He, he died last year. He didn't deserve to die. It should've been me." She looked at Jules. "It should've been me!"

Jules took her hand and squeezed.

"Don't say that." Sam rubbed her back.

"It's true. He was only eight! Why did he have to get leukemia? Why couldn't they cure it?"

"Those are the questions we all want answered." Sam shrugged. "No one knows. I wish I could tell you."

"I miss him so much." She put her head down on Jules' bed and cried like she'd never cried before. The grief taking her over.

Jules put a hand on Callie's head and stroked her hair, tears falling from her eyes. She looked to the ceiling. Help me Mom, she thought. She looked back and saw that Sam was looking at her with concern. She pointed to the tissues on the rolling tray. He stood and handed her a couple and put them next to Callie's head.

"I know it feels awful, but it does get better." Sam returned to rubbing her back. "I thought the world was going to end when my friend Matt died, but my friends got me through it."

"Did- did you forget him?" She sat up and wiped her face with the tissue.

"Never." Sam shook his head. "You just make a special place for them in your heart and that's where they stay. Talking about them and remembering the good times keeps them there."

Callie sniffed. "Good. I don't want to forget him." She took some tissues and blew her nose. She looked at the glass door and saw the others standing around. She looked at Jules and said, "well, it looks like you have some other visitors."

"You ok?" Jules wrote. Callie nodded. Jules nodded to Sam and he went and let the others in.

Callie stood and backed away. Spike saw this and put a hand on her shoulder. "Where you going? You're part of the team now." He smiled.

Callie smiled.

They sat and talked, Jules wrote, for awhile until Jules eyes started getting heavy.

"That's our cue." Greg stood from the chair and said quietly to everyone. He motioned for them to follow him. They said their goodnights and Spike offered to take Callie home.

Callie wasn't so sure she wanted to be alone tonight. Would Spike let her stay with him? She bit her lip.

"Hey." Spike saw her hesitation. "I have a spare room if you want to hang."

"Yeah." She shook her head, relieved. "I just need to get some stuff from home."

Spike nodded, took out his phone, called and got permission from Maggie for Callie to stay with him for the night. "All set." He told Callie.

"Ok. We'll see you soon." Sam hugged her and stepped back so she could stand by the bed.

"Definitely." She nodded. She stepped forward and took Jules' hand. "Night Jules. I'll come back tomorrow after school. Rest up." She looked at Sam and Spike. "We have a Uno rematch to play."

Spike shook his head. "At least I get to start with negative points."

Callie laughed, turned back to Jules and kissed her cheek. She stood and followed Spike out. She turned back and looked at Sam. "You should get some rest too."

He smiled at her. "I will."

She nodded and left the room. Thirty minutes later she was at Spike's apartment getting changed into her pajamas. She pulled on her sweats and t-shirt and walked out into the living room.

Spike was sitting on the couch watching TV. He looked up when she came out and patted the seat on the couch.

She obliged and sat on the opposite side from him. So, now what? She thought. She didn't want to go to sleep, memories of the last couple weeks were running around in her head. She looked at the clock above the TV. It's only 8:30. Her stomach grumbled loudly.

Spike looked at her and chuckled. "Let me see what I have." He got up and went to the fridge in the kitchen across from the livingroom. He loved the openness of his apartment. The counter with cabinets was all that separated the kitchen from the living room.

He stood there looking into the half empty fridge. He'd meant to get groceries today, but the situation with Candace and Mitzy had taken precedence. He had leftover Chinese, cheese and milk. He turned and looked in the cupboard. "I have Cheerios or Corn Flakes." He looked to the couch, but couldn't see her.

"Or we can order from somewhere." He grabbed his stack of takeout menus and brought them to the couch.

Callie laughed when he handed them to her. "Um, you're Italian right?"

He looked at her eyes narrowed. "Yeah."

"Aren't you naturally supposed to be a good cook?"

Spike laughed. "That's what my mom says too. Unfortunately that skipped me. I can bake a little though. My mom taught me before she moved back to Italy after my dad died a couple years ago."

"I'm sorry." Callie looked at the menus. She hadn't meant to bring up a painful subject.

"It's ok." Spike smiled. "It was hard, but it's better now."

I guess everyone knows what it feels like to lose, she thought. Candace hadn't always been a bully. Before she started hanging with Mitzy, she and Callie had been friends in graded school.

When Candace started developing early, she was teased a lot. Her weight had ballooned which got her picked on even more. When the beautiful and skinny Mitzy had befriended her, they started taking karate together and they stood up to the bullies together.

Callie had taken a back seat to Mitzy. She had tried to stand up to the bullies, but had gotten beaten up herself. Candace saw her as weak because she couldn't defend herself and had brushed her off. Once they saw that they could dominate people, they became the bullies. She'd lost a good friend.

"So what do you feel like?" Spike looked at her expectantly.

She broke out of her reverie and looked at the menus. "Timmy's."

"Oh we are going to be great friends." Spike gave her a toothy smile. He found out what she wanted and ordered.

An hour and a half later they were both zoned out in front of the TV. Spike looked at the clock and looked at Callie. "Time for bed."

"Ugggh." Callie groaned. She didn't want to have to face school tomorrow. She knew she had at least two tests to make up, plus whatever else she'd missed the last two days.

"Come on." Spike stood and motioned for her to follow. "I have to get up really early for workout, but I'll come back and bring you to school. What time do you have to be there?"

"7:45."

"Perfect. There's an alarm clock in there so set it to whatever you need." He motioned to the spare room, walked to the bathroom between the two rooms and showed her how to run the shower and where the towels were. "Just make sure you don't get your stitches wet. It may be tricky washing your hair." He looked at the gauze covering her cuts.

"Ok. Thanks." She nodded.

"Anything else? Have whatever you want or can find for breakfast ok?" He looked at her. She looked nervous. "You be ok sleeping here?"

She looked at the twin bed mattress he'd put in his spare room. "Yeah." She shrugged. She went in and shut the door. She heard him close his door and she went to the bed and climbed under the covers. She tossed and turned for a little while before she finally drifted off to sleep.

Before long, she was dreaming. Every time Candace or Mitzy did something or said something nasty to her floated back to her. She tossed and turned at the memories. She saw herself swinging from the hook. Back and forth, back and forth, the floor so far away it looked like miles. Suddenly she was falling, the concrete getting closer and closer. She screamed, putting her arms out to protect her.


	11. Chapter 11

Spike heard her screaming and ran out of his room, opened her door and knelt next to her. "Callie. It's a dream. Callie!" He shook her shoulder.

Callie flailed her arms and screamed. She's holding me down! Help! "Help me." She yelled and sat up.

"It's ok." Spike took her in his arms and held her. The rocked back and forth until she calmed.

Callie sniffed and wiped her hand across her nose.

Spike got up, got some tissues and came back. "Sounded like a pretty bad dream." He looked at her with concern.

"Yeah." Callie scoffed. She blew her nose and threw the tissue in the nearby basket.

"Want to tell me about it?" He sat on the floor next to the mattress.

"It was all the bad stuff Candace and Mitzy did. Shoving me in lockers until I peed myself." She looked at him. "Kicking, hitting, tying me up putting me a million feet in the air when she knew I hate heights."

Damn that girl, Spike thought. "It's all over now. They'll both be in juvie for awhile."

"What about when they get out? They're still going to hate me." New fear flared in her eyes.

"What if they didn't?" At her confused look he continued, "healing begins with forgiveness. The only way you can all get past this is to forgive the hurts and try to move forward."

"I don't know." Could she really forgive the two people who had hurt her most and made her miserable life even worse? Although, she thought, all of a sudden I have six new friends. Wasn't expecting that. Maybe life isn't so bad.

"You should think about it." He tipped his head down and caught her eye. "Promise?"

She looked at him. "Promise."

"Will you be ok?"

Callie nodded. "Yeah." I think so, I really do, she thought.

For the next week, Callie did as she promised. Every day after school she went to see Jules at the hospital. Sometimes they just hung out, and sometimes they played Rummy. They promised to keep the Uno until Jules was able to sit up for long periods. Although they had her on oxygen through a nose cannula, she got tired fairly quickly so they had to take breaks during their play.

Sam grudgingly went back to work that Monday but he showed up as soon as shift was over. A couple of times he was late and missed seeing Callie, but Jules and Callie both understood. He gave Jules the rundown of each day and stayed until she couldn't keep her eyes open anymore.

On that Thursday, when the team was on days off again, Spike showed up at the hospital with a potted plant. He walked in with it in front of his face and moved it to the side when he stopped in front of the bed. When he moved it aside he had a huge smile on his face, his mouth open and his head cocked to the side a goofy look on his face.

Jules, Callie and Sam laughed. Jules took in as much breath as she could and said, "goofy."

"Ah yuk ah yuk ah yuk." Spike answered, doing his best Goofy impression. He put the plant on the rolling tray that was positioned across Jules' lap. "I thought your room could use some color," he looked around the white, sterile room, "and I know you don't like cut flowers."

"It's… Beautiful." Jules smiled. She moved the tray closer and looked the irises over. Some had bloomed, but there were still some that hadn't opened yet. "These'll…look good...in my...garden."

"That's what they said at the nursery." Spike put his hands in his pockets and shrugged.

Jules looked at him, admiration in her eyes. "Thank…you."

"You're welcome." Spike smiled and looked at Callie. "Hey stranger. How are ya?" He hugged her and she answered "fine" into his jacket. Without thinking he pulled back and looked at her, panic crossing his face. He looked at Sam and relaxed when Sam shook his head.

"We didn't tell her about that word." Sam smiled.

"Oh." Spike relaxed and pulled back from Callie.

When Callie looked confused Sam explained what that word meant to them and why. He said they used ok, good and great.

"Oh, I'm good." Callie smiled.

"So did you take your algebra and Chem tests?" Spike looked at her expectantly. She nodded and looked down. "Uh oh. Bad?"

She smiled and said, "aced them!" When he switched from shock to happy she added, "couldn't have done it without you." She put a hand on his back. "Thanks."

"Glad to help." He smiled and put his bent arm on her shoulder. He looked down and realized she was holding something. "What's that?" He nodded at her hand.

"Uh, well I painted this for Jules, for all of you really." She lifted her hand and Spike saw that it was a canvas with wrapping paper over the front. Callie took a breath and handed it to Jules.

Jules gave her a questioning look, but pulled the paper off and gasped. "Oh..Callie." Jules put a hand to her mouth and started to cry.

"Do you-, is it?" Callie was confused by her reaction. She hoped those were happy tears.

"It's…so beautiful…" Jules gasped between sobs. She turned it so Sam and Spike could see. It was a conceptual drawing, there weren't any distinct faces on the figures just shadows, but it was clearly Callie, surrounded by the SRU members in their gear, including Wordy.

Jules was next to Callie with Sam right behind and to her right. Jules had her arm around Callie and Sam with his hand on Jules' back. On Callie's right side, and farther in the painting was Spike with his hand on Callie's back. Behind him was Wordy, Greg, Leah and Ed, each with their heads bowed and their hands on someone's back.

The background was dark with bright spots of red and blue breaking up the black. In Callie's hands she held an open box. Doves and light emerging from the box and heading to the side edge of the painting.

"Wow." Sam breathed. The symbolism of it was breathtaking.

"Callie." Spike said softly. "That is amazing."

Callie shrugged.

"No seriously. This is awesome." Spike looked at Callie and saw that she had tears in her eyes. He gave her a half-smile and a hug.

"I hoped you'd like it." Callie wiped her eyes.

Jules was trying to breathe in between her tears and was having a hard time. The oxygenation monitor went off. Her oxygen saturation went down to the 80's when it should stay in the 90's.

Sam stepped forward and gave Jules some tissues. "Easy Jules." He said. "Sniper breathing."

She blew her nose and followed while he counted it out. A nurse came in and watched them, looking at the monitor.

"In, hold, two three four, out." Sam kept count for a couple minutes until Jules' breathing was back under control. He looked at the nurse. "She's ok now." The nurse nodded and left saying, "don't make me kick you out" before she left.

"Sorry Jules." Callie looked sad.

"Not...your...fault." She put her hand out towards Callie and Sam moved aside to let Callie get closer. "I..love it." She took Callie's hand and looked at Sam. "Window…please."

He picked up the painting from where it was leaning on the rolling tray where Jules had placed it when she had started having trouble breathing and put it on the window sill so Jules could see it.

"So...talented." Jules smiled.

"Thanks." Callie blushed. She looked at her watch, 1630. Crap! She was going to be late! Ever since she had started hanging out with Sam, Jules and Spike, she'd adopted their military timekeeping. "I gotta go. I'm supposed to be meeting Mom in Mr. Fitzherbert's office right now. Be back around 1800." She turned towards the door, then threw over her shoulder, "I'll be back." In her best Schwarzenegger voice.

The three laughed. Spike looked at Sam. "Fitzherbert. Is that the guy-"

"Yep. Jules set it up. Thought it'd be good for them to do some family counseling."

Spike looked at the retreating form of Callie. "No doubt. I'm glad. She seems like she's doing well."

"Yeah." Sam agreed. "She's smiling a lot more."

"I can't...believe...she...painted that." Jules said. This was the first time that Callie had even mentioned that she painted. They knew she appreciated art, but this was a total surprise.

"Wait 'til everyone sees it." Spike looked at the painting again. He was extremely impressed by it. Callie is one amazing kid, he thought. What a difference from that night she'd spent at his house. She'd woken up at least three times with nightmares during the night. Both of them were exhausted the next morning.

When Spike had showed up at workout with dark circles, the team had been concerned. When he'd explained about the nightmares they understood. Even though it was his turn to make the Timmy's run, Sam had volunteered. He'd said he didn't want to get a snow cone instead of coffee, convinced Spike wouldn't be able to remember what they wanted.

Luckily the coffee and workout had helped to wake him up and he was able to work the whole shift. The team had kidded him the whole day about it saying this is what it's like when you have kids. Although Spike told them he wasn't sure about that, he really hadn't minded. Callie was becoming like a little sister to him. If his kids ended up half as cool as Callie he'd be glad.


	12. Chapter 12

Callie steeled herself before she knocked on the door of Kevin and Shelly Wordsworth's house. It was a beautiful Saturday morning and she hoped the girls wanted to play outside.

She'd met them yesterday in Jules' room. They were there when she'd arrived after school. They sure love their Aunty Jules, she thought and smiled. They'd drawn get well cards and pictures for Jules which Wordy had hung on the walls by Jules' bed.

Both Wordy and Shelly had told her that the painting was beautiful and amazing. They had hugged her tightly and said thanks. She wasn't used to getting so many hugs, but she liked it. She had hit it off right away with the Wordsworth girls.

The oldest, Allie was especially fond of Callie. The first reason was that their names rhymed, the second that they were only two years apart so they had some of the same interests. They both loved Justin Bieber, the same Disney shows and hate One Direction and Miley Cyrus.

The younger girls followed the older girls around although both Callie and Allie were good about including the other two.

"Hi Callie." Shelly smiled. "Come on in. Girls! Callie's here!" She called up the stairs. A chorus of 'Yay! Callie's here!' and excited yelling floated down from upstairs. They thundered down the hallway and started running down the stairs until Wordy walked by the stairs and told them to stop before they fell.

"Good to see you Callie." Wordy gave her a hug. "How are things?"

"Good!" She smiled. She was going to tell them about an award she got at school but she was surrounded by three excited girls. They encircled her in a big group hug and talked over each other telling her hi and what they did in school.

Wordy and Shelly laughed. "Ok, time to go run off some of that energy!" Wordy talked above the din, something he was very used to. "Get your boots on, it rained last night. Then out in the backyard with the lot of you!"

The girls pulled on their boots and Callie followed them to the sliding doors at the back.

When the sun had set and the girls still weren't back inside, Wordy went to the slider and called them in. Four muddy girls walked in the house laughing and talking. Wordy looked at them and shook his head. "Ok, bath time!" He shuffled the two younger girls into the bathroom upstairs while Allie and Callie sat in the kitchen talking and waiting for their turns.

Callie didn't want to use up their hot water so she went into the living room. "Uh, Shelly. I can just take a shower at home. I don't want to use up your hot water."

Shelly looked at her. "Oh that's ok. Trust me, I'm lucky if I ever get a hot shower." She smiled, then it faded. "Unless you're uncomfortable-"

"Oh no." Callie put out a hand. "I'm fi- good." She corrected herself.

Shelly caught it and smiled. Kevin had told her about the team's use of that word. "Besides, I insist you stay for supper. The phone's in the kitchen, you should check with your mom." She winked and watched Callie return to the kitchen.

Callie called and left a message for her mom, letting her know she was staying for supper. She was sure her mom was sleeping before her convenient store job.

After everyone got cleaned up and supper was eaten, they gathered in the family room to wind down before bed. Unfortunately, the girls couldn't calm down once Callie said she had to go home. Wordy offered and gave Callie a ride home because it was dark and he didn't want her walking alone at night.

The next day, Callie decided she would spent most of it at the hospital. She really didn't have anywhere else to be or do. She hadn't really made any new friends at school although everyone knew what had happened and a few had asked if she was ok.

"Morning Sam, morning Jules." It was 1000 when she walked in. It was another beautiful day and the sun was shining into Jules' room. Callie saw it and smiled. Good her irises will love the sun, she thought.

Sam turned, saw her and let a small groan escape his lips. He was sure it wasn't loud enough for Callie to hear. Doesn't she have any friends her age, he thought gruffly. She's always here.

He was running on very little sleep. He had left at 2300 when Jules had finally fallen asleep. She had been coughing more often but he figured it was her lungs healing. The hospital had called him at 0200 to tell him there was a problem and he'd raced back. Jules had a setback during that time and they had to put her back on the ventilator.

It was nearly 0400 before they'd let him back in the room. He'd spent the time wearing a hole in the carpet in the waiting room. The nurses and doctor had to rush back in twice more because Jules woke up and freaked out about the ventilator. They had to sedate her to keep her from pulling the tube out.

Callie heard what she thought was a groan and stopped in her tracks. She looked at Jules. The tube's back in. "What happened?"

"Lung infection. Luckily not pneumonia. So if you're sick you can't stay." Sam ran a hand through his hair. He looked back at her, his eyes red and bloodshot. "Are you sick?"

Callie furrowed her brows. Why was he talking to her like this? What did she do? "No, I don't think so."

"You don't know for sure?"

"I feel good. What's- are you ok?"

"Yup. I'm ok." He sat back in the chair and rubbed his eyes with his palms. He looked back at her. "Are you coming in?" He asked impatiently.

"I, uh.. Don't know." Callie stood where she was, unsure what to do. I thought it was ok for me to come, she thought. Didn't Jules say to come anytime?

"Suit yourself." He yawned and looked at Jules. Why can't she just let us have some alone time, he asked her silently. She's always around. He was very annoyed and he didn't really know why.

Callie stood where she was looking at Sam. After nearly a minute, she moved forward cautiously. The bag in her hand crinkled and Sam turned to look at her with annoyance. She furrowed her brows again and looked down at the bag. She stepped to Sam's left and placed the bag on the rolling tray.

"Um, whe- when she wakes up tell her I hope she likes it."

"Thanks." Sam said flatly.

Callie looked at his profile. He looks so tired, she thought. She opened her mouth to say something and quickly shut it when Sam rolled his eyes. She backed away, turned and left.

On her walk home she mulled over what had just happened. Sam didn't seem that happy to see her. Why? Did she say or do something? Maybe they didn't want her there everyday. Maybe that was too annoying.

She didn't like that Jules had gotten sicker. It made her want to be there every second to make sure she got better. That's probably what Sam is doing, she thought. She doesn't need me hanging over her too. I'll wait until after the art exhibit. I'll have to try to sneak in and grab the painting so I can get it to the exhibit. Hopefully she likes my present.

Later that day, Jules had opened her eyes and looked confusedly at Sam. She motioned for the pen and Sam handed it to her after he kissed her forehead.

"What happened?"

"You have a lung infection and weren't breathing well enough so they had to put the tube in."

"Feel like shit."

"Do you want me to get the nurse?"

She turned the page and pointed to no. She eyed him carefully and wrote, "did you sleep?"

"Some." He took her hand and held it up between his own, elbows on the bed.

"Look tired. Go to bed."

"I'm not going anywhere Jules. I'm good."

"Can't both be sick." She speared him with a look which made him give her a small smile.

"Ok. I'll go in a little while." He dropped one of his hands and softly rubbed her cheek with the back of her fingers.

She looked around the room and wrote, "Callie?"

"She stopped in for a minute but had to go." Sam stiffened when Jules showed him the paper. His sleep deprived mind didn't understand why she asked about the teen. He was here, wasn't that enough?

Jules' eyes fluttered closed. So tired, she thought. Just gonna close my eyes for a second.

Sam put her hand on the bed, kept his on it and sat back in the chair. He put his head back and slouched in the chair so that his neck was resting on the back of the chair. He was asleep seconds later.


	13. Chapter 13

Callie crept quietly into Jules' room and slid the door, leaving a gap she could get through. It was late in the afternoon and the room was semi-dark. Sam was asleep in the chair. His head was to one side, pointed away from her, it looked like it was a painful angle. Jules was sleeping, the ventilator wheezing and clicking with each breath. She walked quietly to the painting on the windowsill, picked it up and walked back the way she came.

She heard someone stir behind her and slipped out the door, pulling it shut.

"Taking the painting home?" A nurse asked as she walked past the desk.

Callie cringed and looked at her. She'd hoped to get out without anyone noticing her. "Just borrowing it for a bit." The nurse nodded and Callie made her way out of the hospital. Tomorrow night is the art show at the museum, then I'll bring it back. They probably won't notice anyway she thought. She got in the elevator just as the doors to the other one opened.

Spike stepped out of the elevator and headed to Jules' room. Greg and Wordy stepped out after him. Spike slid the door open and Sam jumped up from the chair and looked at Jules.

She was still sleeping. He looked at the clock trying to get his eyes to focus. Does that say 1630? He shook his head. Damn, he thought. I slept for like four hours. He looked behind him and noticed the three men standing there with concern in their eyes.

"What happened?" Greg asked. "She looked so good yesterday."

Sam ran a hand through his hair and rubbed his eye. He told them what had happened. "She's been sleeping since this morning."

"I'm sure she needs it.' Wordy stepped forward and knelt next to Sam. "So do you."

"No." Sam said with more force than he meant to.

Wordy frowned at him. "Are you ok?"

"Yes. I just- I want to be here. I need to be. She needs me." Sam looked at Jules, the worry filling his blue eyes.

"Of course she needs you." Greg knelt on Sam's other side and Spike sat at the bottom of Jules' bed softly so as not to wake her, with his back to the window. "She needs you to take care of yourself. When was the last time you actually got a good night's sleep?"

Sam lifted a shoulder. "A couple days."

Wordy looked at Spike concerned. Something's missing, he thought. He frowned as he looked past Spike to the empty windowsill. Where's the painting?

"Ok." Greg stood and motioned to Sam to do the same.

Sam stood wearily. He was too tired and emotional to refuse. They'll watch over her, he thought.

Echoing his thoughts Greg said, "I'll stay with her. You go get something to eat and some sleep. I won't leave her until you come back, but that better not be before 2200. Even then it's a short visit and back home. We're on tomorrow."

Frowning, Wordy asked, "where's the painting?"

Sam looked up. Wait, when did it disappear? He knew it was here earlier. He looked at them. When Callie was here. Oh fuck. What had he said to her?

"Did Callie take it?" Spike asked. "Did she stop in today?"

"This morning. She must've come back to get it."

"What? Why would she-" Spike set his jaw. "What did you say to her? What happened?"

Sam put a hand over his eyes. What had he said? He knew she'd stopped in, but what happened? He remembered being irritated with her. His mind was foggy.

"Sam." Spike frowned at him. He took out his cell and walked out of the room. He dialed Callie's home number and got the machine. He hung up and tried twice more before he left a message, "Hey Callie. It's Spike. If you're there please pick up.."

"I just want to make sure…" Callie sat next to the phone, listening. She'd recognized his number and hadn't wanted to talk to him. "Sam…" Must be Sam told them what a pain she was, she thought as she drowned out his words. I'm sorry, she told the phone silently. I didn't realize I'd wore out my welcome.

"...I'm coming there. Stay put." She stood. Why is Spike coming here? To tell her to stay away from them? She hoped it wasn't that bad. Maybe just to tell her to let them have "adult time" as her mom called it.

Crap. She grabbed her coat and wallet, locked up and left. She walked down the three flights as fast as she could carrying the painting. I wanted to bring this to the museum today anyway, she thought. I'll just do it now and hang out there for awhile.

"I just want to be sure you're ok. Sam said he saw you this morning and from the looks of him, you may have had a fight? Can you pick up please? Ok, listen, I'm coming there. Stay put. I'll be there in ten." Spike left the message and stormed back into the room.

"She didn't pick up." He showed Sam his phone. "What. Happened."

"Oh man. The poor kid. I," he hung his head in shame. The cobwebs had cleared. Why had he been such a jerk? He hadn't meant to. Worry about Jules and lack of sleep had caused him to be uncharacteristically short, even mean to herq.

"I have to talk to her. I wasn't very nice to her this morning. I had just gone to bed like an hour or so before when they called to tell me about Jules. I came back and," Sam took a breath and looked at Wordy, hurt in his eyes, "they wouldn't let me back in here for a couple hours. She woke up twice after I came in and tried to pull the tube out. They had to sedate her to get her to calm down."

"Oh. Sounds rough." Spike's face softened and he looked at Jules.

"I shouldn't have talked to her like I did. I was… a jerk."

Spike looked back at him. He put a hand on Sam's shoulder. "Come on. We'll go, you'll apologize and it'll be all good." Sam nodded.

Greg sat in his seat and looked up at him. "I'll call you if anything changes, but I'm serious. Go get something to eat and go to bed. Otherwise. You'll be running extra stair sprints tomorrow."

Sam made a face and said, "Copy that."

Spike gave him a 'you'd better listen' face until Greg added, "that means you too Spike. He's your responsibility. He comes back here before 2200 you run the stairs with him."

Wordy pointed at both of them and gave them a 'sucks to be you if you don't listen' look.

Spike walked backwards, rolled his eyes and said, "copy." Did he know what he was asking, Spike thought. You know as well as I that there is nothing that will keep Sam from being with Jules. They've proven that already! He turned back around, put an arm around Sam's shoulder and they walked out of the hospital.

"$20 says he's back here in a couple hours." Wordy said as he watched Sam and Spike leave.

"You are on." Greg smiled.

Ten minutes later, Sam and Spike were standing outside of Callie's apartment knocking loudly.

"Callie. It's Sam. I need to talk to you. Please let us in." Sam knocked and looked at Spike questioningly.

After a few minutes, the neighbor across the hall opened her door angrily. "Give it a rest will ya? She ain't home. She left like ten minutes ago. Although why a 13 year old girl is allowed to come and go when she wants is beyond me."

She sucked on the cigarette hanging from her lips, pulled it from her mouth with a pop and blew the smoke up above them. "If my kid did that I'd kick her ass." She pointed the cigarette and fingers at them.

"Did you talk to her before she left?" Sam asked.

"You ok honey? You look pretty rough." She looked Sam up and down.

"Yeah. We just need to talk to her." Sam ran a hand through his hair and looked down at his crumpled clothes.

"I didn't talk to her, but she was carrying something. A painting I think." The woman took another drag.

Sam looked at Spike and frowned. Why would she be carrying the painting around? What was she doing with it? Hopefully she wasn't so upset she would destroy it, he thought.

Spike had the same thought written on his face. Jeez. What had Sam said to her that would make her want to destroy the painting?

"Thanks." Sam nodded at the woman and she retreated into her apartment.

They hurried down the stairs and to Spike's car. "Where would she go?" Spike asked as they climbed in.

"Uh, I don't know. Head to the school. Maybe she was going to out it in her locker for some reason?" Sam shrugged.

"Maybe. God Sam, what did you say to her?" Spike pulled out of the parking spot and roared down the road.


	14. Chapter 14

"It wasn't so much what I said, but I was dismissive and unkind with my tone." Sam hung his head. He felt bad about talking to Callie like that, it wasn't her fault he was overtired, stressed and worried.

Spike glanced at Sam. He was looking pretty guilty. He hoped they caught up to Callie before she did anything to the painting. Although he couldn't imagine that Sam had said anything so horrible to her that she'd want to destroy it. Even though they were already going five over the speed limit, he coaxed his car to go a little faster.

Suddenly, Sam saw her on the sidewalk. "Spike! There she is!" He pointed and Spike brought them to an abrupt halt.

There weren't any parking spaces readily available so he said, "go talk to her, I'll find somewhere to park." He pointed with his chin towards Callie who was walking down the street wiping her eyes.

Sam jumped out and ran to Callie, stopping in front of her. "Callie."

Callie jumped and quickly wiped her eyes. She had been in her own world and didn't see or hear Sam coming. She looked at him and then looked down. "Oh. Hey."

"Callie, I'm glad I found you. What did you do with the painting?" Sam looked at her expectantly.

"It's…" She wasn't sure she wanted to tell him about the exhibit after the way he talked to her today. She sniffed.

He tipped his head down and saw that her eyes and cheeks were red. "Oh no. You didn't destroy it did you?"

"What do you care?" She wiped her face with her sleeve, her tone indignant.

Now he felt worse. He'd really hurt her feelings. "Oh Callie." He wasn't sure if he should, but he put a hand on her shoulder. She yanked away and started walking. "Of course I care." He walked after her and caught up. "Please. We need to talk."

She stopped and looked at him. After a moment she looked away and nodded, fresh tears falling. She looked around for a place where they could sit. There really wasn't anywhere she could see.

Sam looked around and saw a bench about 25 feet up the street. He pointed to it and they walked in silence until they reached the bench and sat down. Spike walked up to them and sat down shortly after they did. He was about to say something but Sam put up a finger.

"I'm really sorry about the way I talked to you this morning. I know it's not an excuse, but I was extremely tired." He took a breath but she looked at him with hurt in her eyes.

"You really hurt my feelings." She looked down.

"I know. I was really worried and angry and sad and upset about Jules being so sick and I took it out on you. I'm sorry." He studied her face which had become red and tears had started to form. He waited. Was she still upset about this morning or about something else like the painting.

"Can I go see Jules whenever I want?"

Surprise showed on his face. "What? Of course you can! Is that what you thought?"

She nodded. "I thought maybe I was bothering you and you wanted," she put up her hands and did the air quotes, "adult time."

Spike stifled a laugh.

"Callie, you could never bother me, or Jules." Sam shook his head.

"Or me." Spike added.

She looked at Spike then back at Sam. "I promise I won't be around every second. I just, well I was excited to actually have friends. I wanted to-" she looked away shyly.

Sam smiled warmly and put a hand on her shoulder. "You wanted to what?"

"Make sure you didn't go away." Her eyes filled. "People I love tend to go away."

"Aww honey." Sam pulled her into his chest and let her cry. He pulled back when she calmed and looked her in the eye. "First of all, you can be around as much as you want. Second of all, I'm really glad you think of us as friends.

Thirdly, we, and I mean the whole team, may not be around for ever, but we will be friends for as long as we all shall live. And you know, we may not get along all the time, but we talk, fix it and keep moving forward. Spike and I have had several arguments."

Spike smiled and nodded. "Yup. And I still love this knucklehead." Spike gave Sam a light punch in the arm over the back of the bench.

Sam laughed. Ok, now the tough questions. "So, I have a couple questions."

Callie took a breath and wiped her face. "Ok."

"Where is the painting? Were you crying when we saw you because of me?" He gave her a concerned look.

"At the museum and no." She answered matter-of-factly. She laughed at the confused looks on their faces. "My teacher told the curator of the art museum about my painting and he was very excited. Ms. Avera showed him the picture she took of it on her iPhone and he told her he wanted it for the art show tomorrow celebrating local artist."

Both of their faces dropped in surprise and excitement. Sam pulled her into a hug and patted her back. "Oh my god, I'm so proud of you." He gushed.

"Me too amazing girl." Spike gave her a hug when she turned to look at him. "You should be so proud of yourself!"

She smiled and shrugged humbly.

"What did your mom say? Can she go?" Sam asked excitedly. Wait until he tells everyone!

"Yeah. She has tomorrow off." Callie answered happily. "I was hoping you guys could come. I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to, but-" she stopped when Spike put a hand up.

"We're going." He smiled.

"Hell yeah." Sam exclaimed. "Oops. Sorry." He said when he realized he'd swore.

"Ain't no thang." Callie waved a hand.

Sam and Spike laughed.

Sam realized she hadn't answered his other question and asked again, "so why were you crying?"

"Oh." She hadn't wanted to answer that question. "Well, the curator said we have to dress up.."

"Don't worry about it." Sam looked at Spike and smiled conspiratorially at him. Spike took a second, then his face showed the light bulb coming on.

"But you don't have to buy me something. I have to look in my closet." Callie didn't want them to feel obligated to buy her stuff.

"What time does the show start?"

"1830, but-"

"I'll pick you up at your house at 1700." Sam said with finality.

"Ok." Callie said suspiciously. She looked at Sam. His eyes were still bloodshot and he had big circle under his eyes.

Sam saw her looking at him. He still looked and felt like crap. His stomach growled loudly.

"Whoa." Callie laughed. "When's the last time you fed that thing?"

"Right now." Spike stood and gave Sam a firm look. "You want to join us?"

"Sure." She stood. "I just need to let my mom know." Mom would still be sleeping, she thought. So anything would be better than ramen, again.

They walked the two blocks to her house and waited while she ran in and left a note. While she was gone, Sam grabbed his cell and made a call. "Perfect." He was saying when Callie reappeared. "Ok bye."

"What's perfect?" Callie asked.

Sam looked at her and said, "nothing nosy Nellie." They walked back to Spike's car discussing what they wanted for supper.

Spike and Sam both kept their promise to Greg. They didn't get back to the hospital until 2230. Sam was a little more rested, changed and clean shaven.

There wasn't any change to Jules' condition unfortunately. She was still sedated and on heavy antibiotics to fight the infection. Greg relayed that info to Sam and Spike and they told him about their talk with Callie. Greg smiled when he heard Sam's plan. "Perfect." He nodded.

They stayed while Sam sat with Jules before they left at midnight. It'd be a short night for them to get to workout at 0500, but for Sam it would be another nap he desperately needed.


	15. Chapter 15

"Callie! Are you ready?" Maggie called through the closed bathroom door.

"Um, yeah." Callie stepped out of the bathroom and looked at her mom nervously. Half of her long brown hair was pulled back and twisted into a bun and light makeup was perfectly applied. She looked down at herself and marveled again at the beautiful floral dress she was wearing.

Callie had been surprised when Sam had picked them up and drove to Wordy's house. Allie and Shelly were waiting at the door for them. Allie took Callie straight up to her room and let Callie pick whatever dress she wanted.

Callie had been overwhelmed. Her new friend's generosity was amazing. Allie had shrugged and said, "if I needed a dress you'd let me borrow one, wouldn't you?" Callie had nodded and hugged the younger girl. The younger girls, Holly and Lily ran in and asked if they could help. Callie had laughed and said, "of course!"

It'd taken some trying on, but Callie had ended up with three choices, the floral, a red velvet with a black sash or an emerald green dress with sparkles on it. After she made her choice, Shelly had told her to follow her to the bathroom.

While Shelly was applying Callie's makeup, Maggie walked in wearing a blue sundress.

Callie looked at her mother in surprise. "Mom! You look beautiful! Where did you-"

Maggie pointed shyly at Shelly and pushed her short blond hair behind her ears. "Shelly and her girls are very generous."

Shelly looked at her, smiled and said, "anytime!" She finished Callie's make up and asked Maggie if she wanted make up. Maggie looked undecided so Shelly waved her over.

Maggie moved to the toilet, sat down and let Shelly do her makeup. I haven't worn makeup in years, she thought. I don't even own any!

Callie stood by the sink and watched. When Shelly was done, she asked Callie if she wanted her hair done. Callie was again surprised by Shelly. What had she done to deserve all this? Maggie said she'd wait outside and give Shelly room to work.

"You look beautiful, my girl." Maggie exclaimed when Callie had emerged. she was glad to see Callie's nervous look spread into a smile. She looked beyond her daughter to Shelly and said, "thank you."

"You're welcome." Shelly smiled.

Allie, Holly and Lily emerged from Holly's room in dresses, their hair done as well (luckily Daddy is good at doing hair!). Shelly waved them over and they all walked downstairs together.

Sam and Wordy were talking at the bottom of the stairs, but they stopped when they saw the six girls coming down the stairs.

"You ladies all look beautiful!" Sam smiled at them, stopping at Callie. He could see that she was nervous. The four girls surrounded him and all started talking at once. "Uncle Sammy! Look at the ribbons Daddy put in my hair." "Are you going to da moozeem Uncle Sammy?" "when are we leaving?" "I want Callie to ride with us!" Callie said, "do I really look ok?"

Sam laughed at the cacophony that was the Wordsworth girls, plus one. "I love the ribbons Holly. Yes I am Lily. I think we're leaving soon." He looked Callie in the eye. "You look great!"

"Ok girls." Wordy smiled at them. "Let's get in the van ok?" He looked at Callie. "You look beautiful." He hugged her. "If you want to ride with us you can."

Callie looked from Shelly to Wordy, "thank you for everything. You guys are so awesome."

They both moved forward and pulled her into a hug. "Anytime." Shelly said sincerely. "Absolutely." Wordy added.

When they broke apart, Callie turned to her mom. "Can I ride with them to the museum?"

Maggie smiled and nodded. "Sure honey."

They piled into the vehicles and headed to the museum. When they were walking up, Callie was amazed at all the people and hung back a little bit.

Sam saw this and walked beside her. "Nervous?"

"Yeah." She looked at all the people walking into the museum. "So many people. What if they don't like it? What if they say I suck?"

"They're going to love it. There may be a few that don't like it, but don't worry about them. You have a bunch of people that love it and love you."

She looked at him and smiled, "I do don't I?"

He chuckled. "No doubt about it." He put an arm around her as they walked through the doors.

Callie took in the scene in front of her. There were people milling around everywhere looking at the art set up around the room. But there, in the middle of the room with a sign that said "featured artist" was her painting. She put a hand to her heart.

My painting, featured, she thought. Oh my god. Oh I hope they like it. It was hard to see the painting because there were four people standing in front of it. As if they knew she was looking at them, one by one they turned to look at her. Spike! Greg! Ed! Leah! They all came?

She walked to them. "You came?!"

All four smiled at her, but Ed spoke first. "Of course we did. We wouldn't miss this."

"Did you know?" Greg asked pointing to the sign.

"No." She shook her head. She couldn't keep the smile from her face and her eyes from watering.

"It's so beautiful Callie." Leah said. "Very impressive." She put a hand on Callie's back and rubbed.

"Thanks." Callie breathed. Her mom stepped forward and coughed. "Oh, mom. These are my friends." She looked admiringly at them. She pointed to each of them, "Spike, Greg, Ed and Leah."

They each said hi and shook Maggie's hand. She was in awe of the four of them. They exuded confidence without even saying anything. Something both she and her daughter could use more of.

"You have a truly amazing daughter." Spike said to Maggie. "I'm honored to know her."

"Thanks." Maggie out an arm around Callie proudly. "She makes me proud every day."

"I do?" Callie looked at her frowning.

Maggie pulled back a little and looked at her, surprised. "Of course you do. Oh my baby. I thought you knew?" She pulled Callie back into a hug. "The way you take care of yourself. You take care of the apartment. You take care of me when it should be the other way around. You are beautiful inside and out. I couldn't ask for a better daughter."

"Oh Mom." Callie hugged her tight and let the tears flow. After a minute she wiped her face and went to the bathroom to blow her nose.

Leah followed her as she had gotten teary too.

"You're mom is great." Leah said in the bathroom as they blew their noses.

"Yeah she is." Callie nodded. She eyed Leah, she saw a little sadness on her face. "I'll bet your mom is great."

"She was." Leah agreed. "She died in the floods in Haiti."

"Oh." Callie walked to her. "I'm sorry."

"Thanks. She was a wonderful mom. She loved to bake. She was always baking stuff and bringing it to neighbors. The house always smelled so good." Leah smiled at the memory.

"I'll bet she's still doing that in heaven."

Leah looked at her. "I'll bet you're right." She pulled Callie into a hug. "We better get back out there. I'll bet there are some people who want to talk to you about your painting."

Callie nodded. They went back out and as they got back to their group standing off to the side, the curator made an announcement.

"Thank you all for coming! As you can see, we have some amazing local artists. Our featured art tonight is by a local teen, Callie Marksen. Callie, come up here will you?"

Callie turned red and didn't move until Spike and Maggie both gave her a little push.

When she reached the curator, he said, "ah, thank you Callie. How are you tonight?"

He put the microphone to her face. "Good." She nodded. "Thank you all for coming."

"Do you mind if I ask what inspired the painting?"

"Well, they did." She pointed to the group of people she'd just walked from. Everyone turned to look. "See I was just some kid, wandering around, lost. Then an amazing thing happened. I got a Big Sister. She didn't have to, but Jules Callaghan took time out of her life to hang with me. And whether I thought I wanted it or not, she became my friend.

Luckily for me, that came with a bunch more friends I didn't know I needed." She smiled at them and waved when Lily waved to her. "They've helped me a lot." She took a shaky breath and looked into the crowd. "So I wanted to paint something that represented how I feel about them because they aren't only my friends, but my heros." A tear slipped down her cheek. "I love you guys."

The group raised their glasses to her. Each one had tears in their eyes.

"Wow. Thank you Callie. What an inspiration!" Everyone clapped as Callie returned to her friends and hugged each of them. The girls were especially exuberant with their hugs. "Well, thank you again for coming and enjoy!" The curator turned off the mic and put it down on a table. He walked to Callie and the group.

"Callie. What an inspirational story! I had to come meet these muses of yours." The curator said excitedly. Callie introduced him to the group. He smiled and shook each of their hands which the little girls loved. He looked at Callie again. "So what is the name of this piece?"

She looked at the group and said, "heroes."

"Perfect." He smiled. "Well, enjoy!" He moved off.

Callie spent the night hanging with her friends and talking to people about her painting. After her speech, people wanted to tell her how much they loved her painting and the story behind it.

Wordy and Shelly were the first to leave because they had to get the girls home to bed. The girls were upset by this, but Callie promised they would get together again soon and they calmed.

People started filtering out of the museum and by 9pm everyone else had left. Sam, Maggie and Callie were left standing in front of the painting.

"What a great night." Maggie sighed contentedly, her arm across Callie's shoulders.

"Mmm." Callie had her head on her mom's chest and was having trouble keeping her eyes open.

Sam looked at Callie and smiled. He caught Maggie's eye and tipped his head towards the exit. She nodded and they steered Callie out to the car. They were only a few minutes down the road before Callie was asleep in the backseat.

Maggie looked at Sam. "I don't know how we got so lucky." Sam looked at her. "How's Jules?"

"I stopped in between work and tonight. The antibiotics had finally started to kick in and she was improving. They're hoping to take her off the vent tomorrow."

"Oh good. Callie will be glad to hear that." She looked at her lap.

Sam could tell she was making small talk and had something else to say. "What's wrong Maggie?"

"I just-. I hope you all don't think I'm a terrible mom." She looked back at Callie who was still sleeping. "I try. I have to work two jobs. I know it leaves her alone a lot-"

"She's not alone." Sam gave her a serious look. "That's what we're here for. And we know how hard it's been-" he looked back at Callie. "Since Keith got sick and passed. Believe me when I say that any time you need anything, just ask. We're here for you too."

"Thank you. No wonder she calls you her hero." Maggie sniffed.


	16. Chapter 16

The next day, Callie walked into Jules' room with the painting and put it back on the window sill. She had assumed Jules was sleeping so was surprised when she heard Jules' voice.

"Hey..you." Jules smiled at her.

Callie smiled warmly. "Hi Jules. You look so much better. How do you feel?"

"Ok." She pushed the button to move the bed so she was in more of a upright position. "Where…painting?"

Callie handed her the pen and paper and sat in the chair. "May be best to use this for now." Jules was still pale and her shallow breaths didn't help much. "So, the painting." She paused then looked at Jules excitedly. "So my art teacher Ms. Avea told the curator about my painting and showed him a picture. He told her he wanted it to be in a art show featuring local artists.

Then Sam and I made up." At Jules' confused look she explained that, then told her about the dresses, makeup, her speech and the whole night. When Jules took a breath to speak, Callie gave her a look and pointed to the pen and paper.

"Sounds like you had a great night."

"Best of my life." Callie nodded. She looked at the painting then back at Jules. "It's called 'heros'." She repeated what she said in her speech which made Jules choke up and depress her breathing. "Sniper breathing." Callie gave her a serious look. Jules looked at her in surprise but followed her count.

When her breathing was back under control, Jules wrote, "nice."

"Thanks." Callie smiled. It payed to pay attention. She'd used the sniper breathing technique at school when she had to give a presentation and last night when she walked up to the curator. It helped to calm her and keep her from vomiting before she had to speak in front of groups.

Callie told Jules all about spending the day with The Wordsworth's and how much fun they had.

Jules turned the paper. "They are a hoot!"

Callie laughed, "that's for sure. Lily is so cute when she tries to say big words. She asked Sam if he was going to 'da moozeem' with us."

Jules laughed and coughed at the same time.

Callie studied her face. "Are you in a lot of pain?"

Jules looked at her and wrote, "is that what my face says? What about my eyes?'

"Yes you have a pained expression and it's in your eyes although you look amused too."

"Very good. Yes it hurts to breathe, but it's better." Jules smiled at her. The few times they'd talked about trying to read people and had practiced had been beneficial. "I'm amused because that was a good assessment."

"That must be hard to do when someone is in a stressful situation like you guys go to." Callie had asked Jules lots of questions about what they do for work and especially about being a negotiator. She found it to be interesting work. She would always be an artist at heart, but that may be something she could do in the future.

"Yes. Trying to read through their stress can be difficult." Jules nodded, wrote for a minute and turned the paper again, "but that's what a good negotiator does."

"Ok. My turn." Callie stood, crossed her arms, tightened her muscles and thought about her brother, but kept herself from crying.

Jules looked at her and wrote. "Your body says angry, defiant, tense. But your eyes read incredible sadness and loss." She turned the pad and wrote more. "We're you thinking about your brother?"

Callie nodded and sat back down. "I really miss him. The sessions with Mr. Fitzherbert are helping though. Mom told me she was proud of me last night. She said she was always proud of me though. I guess I didn't realize it."

Jules nodded. "You're a great person and will be an amazing woman. I am very proud of you too."

"Thanks Jules." Callie smiled. She could see the sincerity in Jules' face which made it more special.

Jules took a small breath and sighed. Damn I hate being so tired, she thought. She put the pen to paper. "I'm sorry. I'm so tired."

"Oh that's ok." Callie sat back in her chair. she wasn't surprised Jules had gotten tired, her body was still fighting the infection. "I'll just hang in case you need anything."

Jules nodded and let her eyes close.

Callie quietly unzipped her backpack and pulled out her sketch pad. She flipped past a few of her drawings of the team. Those are the ones she'd used for her painting. She went to a blank page and started to sketch Jules' sleeping face.

Sam walked in about 45 minutes later, stopped and looked over Callie's shoulder. "Wow." He whispered. It was a perfect drawing of Jules depicting her peacefully sleeping face, her lashes falling softly on her cheek.

"Thanks." Callie signed it and ripped it out of her notebook. She stood and handed it to Sam. "Now you can still see her even when you're home."

He shook his head and hugged her. How did she know that's what he needed? It'd been a particularly rough day at work today and he hung onto her a little longer.

When he pulled back she saw it in his eyes. She motioned to the chair by the bed and she stayed standing. "Bad day?"

"Yeah. We lost a couple civilians today." He hung his head. If only he'd reacted quicker when the subject pulled the knife. It had been one smooth and quick motion done out of sight that killed the first civilian. The subject had pulled the hostage in front of him, pulled and plunged the knife in the civilian's chest before Greg could call Scorpio.

She looked at him and waited, seeing that he was thinking about it.

The second had died when he got caught up in the subject's attempt to escape. Greg, Ed and Spike were following the subject as he tried to run out the back (where Leah was waiting), but the subject grabbed another person that was there and shoved him into Spike. Spike had been surprised and tried to catch the man but he hit his head hard on a counter and died instantly.

The debrief had been rough. There had been lots of raging emotions. By the end they all had still felt bad about the situation. They knew there'd be an investigation. He pulled himself out of his thoughts and looked at her. "It was pretty tough."

"Looks like it."

He looked up at her, then narrowed his eyes. They'd been practicing reading people. "Stop that." He knew his eyes were a dead give away sometimes so he put his mask up. That contained his emotions and kept his face blank.

"No fair." She crossed her arms over her chest, pouting. He was so used to being able to put his stone face on she was sure she could physically see it happen.

He smiled knowingly. "Was she awake when you got here?"

"Yes. We talked, she wrote, for awhile but she still gets tired really fast." Callie looked at Jules. She wished there was a way she could magically heal her.

"Yeah. Unfortunately it takes awhile for the lungs to heal. I've broken my ribs a several times. It hurts like a-" he looked at her. "Bugger."

Callie stifled a laugh. They tried so hard not to swear around her, but her mom was not so careful. Kids at school swore as often as they could when the teachers or principal weren't around.

"Well, i'm going to head home. They've really been piling on the homework." She rolled her eyes and picked up her bag.

He looked out the window and saw that the sun was setting. "I'll take you home. I don't want you walking in the dark."

Callie looked out the window. Yeah it'd be dark by the time she got home. She knew arguing was probably pointless so she agreed.


	17. Chapter 17

The next two days, Callie didn't show up at the hospital. It worried Sam and the others, but they thought maybe she had a lot of homework or had finally made some friends at school and was busy with them. They didn't have to worry, Callie was in a safe place, well from where her side of it she was safe.

On her walk to the hospital on the third day, Callie thought about her two excursions to Juvenile Hall. The first one had been really nerve-wracking. She'd tried to sniper breathe to keep herself calm, but it didn't work. It was a long walk from the school to juvie, but that just made her dread it even more.

At first it didn't seem like they would let her in without an adult, but when she insisted that her mom was at work and they checked it out they let her in. She sat in the visitor room alternating from looking at the clock and ather hands. Finally, Mitzy walked into the visitor room.

When Mitzy saw Callie she looked around the room. Where's her mom, she thought. Should she be here? The guard was watching her so she walked to the table to sit down. "What do you want? To rub it in? You won. Whoop-de-doo."

"No Mitzy. I didn't win. Neither of us did." Callie studied her face. She looked scared, tense and unhappy.

"So what do you want?" Mitzy kept up the tough girl act. So far it had kept her from getting beat up. That and she hardly left her cell.

"I just-" she shrugged. "I wanted you to know that I forgive you." She gave Mitzy an honest look. She did forgive her. She knew Mitzy had been motivated by what was done to her and had reacted the only way she knew how.

"Forgive me?" Mitzy was caught off guard. She thought for sure that Callie would want to tell her off or at least say she was glad Mitzy was in juvie.

"Yeah. I know you were bullied and I'm sorry that happened to you. That doesn't make what you did to me over the years ok, but it's time to let it go and move on.

I hope that's what you can do after you get out of here. Move on. Go to college, get a job, maybe get married one day and have a family. I believe you have a bright future ahead of you. But it's up to you." Callie waited. She wasn't sure what Mitzy's reaction would be. She studied Mitzy's face and body language. She was definitely confused and unsure.

"Wow." Mitzy frowned at her. "Why?"

"Why not?" Callie shrugged. "Why spend my time being upset and mulling over what happened? It won't do me any good. Things are great for me now. And I hope you can have that too." Callie stood. She'd said everything she had wanted to say. It was up to Mitzy now.

Before Callie walked out the door, Mitzy said, "thank you Callie." Her eyes were sincere. Callie had nodded and left.

The second trip to juvie the following day, she was more confident. It was true that Mitzy was the commander and Candace the enforcer, but she was confident this would go the same way.

She'd been wrong. Candace had become even more angry and aggressive. When Callie told Candace she forgave her, Candace laughed and called her an idiot. Callie still told Candace the same thing she did Mitzy, that it was up to her now but Candace didn't care and told her so.

Callie stood to leave and had one last thing to say. "I feel sorry for you Candace." When Candace started to interrupt her, Callie slapped her hands on the table and looked Candace in the eye, seeing the other girl pull back. "I'm not afraid of you any more. Maybe someday you'll grow up and realize what an opportunity you have here." She moved to the door. "Until then, have a nice life Candy."

Candace growled and ran at the door, but the guards were waiting for her. They'd already learned what set inmate 2246662 off.

As Callie made her way out of the facility she could hear Candace screaming, "I am NOT Candy!"

Callie walked into Jules' room smiling at the memory of Candace's desperate screams. She had a feeling Candace would become very familiar with cells in her future.

Sam, Spike, Greg, Ed and Leah turned when the door opened.

They all started talking at once until Callie put up a hand, laughing. "Hi guys." She gave each one a hug and then turned to Jules. "You look so much better!'

Jules was sitting up in bed, no more chest tube, just an IV and nose cannula. Her color had finally returned. "Thanks Callie."

"You sound better!' Callie leaned in and gave Jules a small hug.

"I feel much...better." Jules still had to take a breath or two when speaking.

"Wow. See what happens when I don't come for a couple days?" Callie laughed.

Suddenly they all started talking at once, "where were you?" "Why didn't you call? "You just disappeared." "We missed...you." "It would've been nice if you'd let us know so we don't worry." Spike was the last one to speak.

"Wow. Ok." Callie smiled. "I went to juvie to see Mitzy one day and Candace the next. I'm sorry I didn't call, but I didn't think it was a big deal. My mom knew where I was. I didn't mean to disappear. I missed you guys too. I will from now on, promise." She took a breath. "Was that all of it?" She looked at Sam who did not look amused.

"You went to juvie?" Sam frowned at her. "They haven't even been arraigned yet. I don't think that was a good idea. What did you say to them?"

She related what she said to each of the girls and their reactions. She especially liked telling them about calling Candace Candy. She smiled after that part but it faded when she looked at them. "What?"

Spike looked at Sam and then looked at her with admiration. "That was an incredibly mature thing to do. Did your mom or Mr. Fitzherbert suggest it?"

"Well Mr. Fitzherbert told me that I needed to forgive them and move on so that's the only way I could think of to do it." She didn't understand Sam's reaction. Everyone else was smiling at her.

"I wish you'd told us you were going, we could've gone with you." Sam said.

"I'm sorry Sam. I wanted to do it myself. I think I needed to." Callie looked at him hopefully.

"I understand." Sam smiled. Then he put a hand shaped like a phone to his ear and whispered "call".

Callie laughed. "Besides, it was my birthday. I can spend it how I want. Anyway, how are you guys? What's been happening?"

The adults exchanged looks of surprise and all started talking again. "Wait? What?" "It was your birthday? Which day?" "Why didn't you tell us?" "We should...celebrate." "What's with all the secrets?'

"Geez, it's like a marathon with you people." Callie laughed. "Wait for what? Yes. Monday. I don't usually celebrate. Same answer and I don't know."

They all took a minute to process that and Jules finally broke the silence. "Well happy...birthday!"

"Thanks." Callie smiled at all of them. It was kind of exhausting to have them all together, she realized. Especially when more than one person had something to say. She hadn't meant to keep things from them, but doesn't everyone keep secrets? She threw her birthday in knowing that they'd want to know. If she didn't tell them at all they probably would've been upset.

"Well we should at least take you out to dinner or something." Greg said although he regretted it after because Jules couldn't join them. He looked at Jules.

"Go." Jules waved her hands at them. "But once.. I'm out…of here...you and...I celebrate." She smiled at Callie. She hated how long it took to get out a sentence.

"Definitely." Callie smiled. "We'll be back."

"Ok." Jules smiled.

They took Callie to her favorite restaurant and had a great time. The chef brought out a big cake and the whole restaurant sang Happy Birthday to her. They all felt bad that they didn't have presents for her, but knew they would make it up to her.

Afterward, Sam and Callie returned to the hospital. In the car, Callie looked at Sam. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about going to juvie. I didn't think you guys would worry so much about me not going to the hospital."

Sam understood. He didn't tell people where he was every second and she was used to doing things on her own because her mom was working so much. "I understand. We just- well we think of you as like a little sister now so we're protective."

"Aww." Callie smiled. "Wow, so I went from one brother to no siblings, to five brothers and two sisters." She thought about that for a minute.

Sam smiled. "Well, yeah." He looked at her. "Listen, we don't mean to be over protective, it just kind of how we are. Just give us a heads up."

"Ok." She agreed.


	18. Chapter 18

It was two days after her birthday dinner that Callie walked into Jules' new room on the med/surg floor to find it decorated with streamers and balloons. Sam, Spike, Wordy, Shelly, the girls, Ed, Leah and Greg were waiting for her wearing little hats with glittery Pom Poms on top. The blew into their noisemakers and said, "happy birthday!"

Callie smiled widely. "Wow." She hugged everyone.

"We made you a card!" Holly held it up for Callie. It was covered in glitter and on the front in block letters carefully cut from yellow construction paper (Callie's favorite color) it said 'Happy Birthday Callie!" On the inside there was separate, big drawing of the four of them playing outside with a big heart as the sun. On the inside of the card it said, 'we love you!' And was signed by each of them.

"Aww thank you. I love it!" She hugged the three girls tight.

"You guys didn't have to do this." Callie looked at them with love.

"The girls heard they missed your birthday and wanted to do something special." Wordy explained, pointing to the decorations and hats the girls had insisted they wear.

"Daddy helped me put up da stweemers." Lily told her proudly.

"They look awesome. Good job." Callie winked at her.

"Next year we'll have a big party!" Holly put out her hands to show how big.

Callie smiled at her. "Sure."

Suddenly the lights went off and Callie looked towards the door to see Spike at the switch. Then from behind her there was a glow. She turned and saw that Sam was lighting candles on a beautiful yellow frosted cake Jules was holding.

"Happy birthday to you," Jules started them off and everyone joined in.

She closed her eyes, made a wish and blew out the candles.

"Yay!" The little girls cheered and Shelly had to remind them that they were in a hospital with sick people trying to rest.

While they ate the cake, the girls told Callie how they had helped Mommy pick out the cake and frosting. And, that they had baked it with only a little help from Mommy. Callie told them she was very proud of them. Once they had finished and were talking about general stuff, Jules cleared her throat.

When everyone quieted down, she looked at Callie. "We wanted to get you...something and in light of...your recent disappearing act...we got you this." She took the small yellow wrapped package Sam handed her and gave it to Callie.

Callie looked around the room then at the package and opened it. Inside was a brand new Apple iPhone. It started to ring. Callie looked at the number, it said 'Jules Cell'. She looked at Jules who had her cell to her ear and laughed.

Jules looked at Sam and crossed her arm across her stomach and put her arm with the phone on it. "She must be busy."

Callie laughed again and picked up the call. "Hi Jules."

"Now we won't ever be out of touch." Jules said.

"This is.." Callie smiled then hung up the phone.

Jules looked at the phone incredulously. "She hung up on me!" Then it rang. "Hello?"

"Hey it's Callie. Sorry for hanging up on you. I love my present."

Jules looked at Callie and smiled. "I'm glad. Bye."

"Thank you all so much. This is awesome." She turned the phone over and saw they had it in a yellow rhinestone case.

"Your mom loved the idea. Now you can call her whenever, wherever." Spike said.

"You have unlimited talk and text for the next year. We figured someone your age would need that." Ed added.

Callie smiled at him.

"You have one more!" Allie grabbed the present and handed it to Callie.

"More?" Callie smiled at her.

"Yeah." Allie smiled excitedly. She knew Callie would love it.

Callie opened the box and inside was a framed picture of her with everyone at the museum and the floral dress Allie had let her borrow. She looked at Allie. "Your dress?"

"Now your dress." Allie smiled.

"Thank you. That's so nice of you!" She picked up the picture and looked at each person's face. Happiness, love, family.

"So, how was school?" Sam leaned back against the wall.

"Uggh." Callie rolled her eyes. When Sam chuckled she continued, "I swear my chem teacher Mr. Gordon has lost his mind! Now he wants us to memorize the atomic weight and what type of elements are on the periodic table. What do I need to know that for?"

Spike shrugged. "Depends on what you want to do in life. Anything in the sciences will need it."

"What if you want to be a physicist or rocket scientist?" Ed added. At her funny look he said, "ok, maybe not."

"What about your paints?" Leah said. "They have different chemicals in them. How do you know which ones you have to use paint thinner with and ones that just need water to clean up?"

"Oh that's easy, acrylics and watercolor brushes a can be cleaned up using water and oils up you have to use turpentine." Callie waved a hand.

"Right, but do you know why? What chemicals are in there that make them water soluble?" Leah asked, her eyes twinkling.

"Huh. No I guess I didn't think of it that way." Callie looked at Leah with admiration. Callie moved to Jules' side. "So now that you're here, you're moving towards getting to go home right?"

"Oh yeah. I'm busting…out soon." Jules smiled.

"Good." Callie smiled.

Jules had been right. It was another four days later that she was finally discharged from the hospital. They had gotten her up and walking around on the crutches and she was cruising around the halls whenever she could. She and Callie had probably clocked a mile or two every day. It was a good time for them to catch up on what had happened that day.

Callie did end up making a few friends at school. One of them was Mitzy's former lemming Hannah Young, niece of Lewis Young, the team's fallen brother. Hannah was in Callie's art class and had been very impressed with Callie's, now famous, painting.

Her other friend was the head cheerleader, Zeliah (zee-lee-ah) Tumbway. Callie had been surprised that such a popular person talked to her, but they hung out together, and with Hannah, and became fast friends. The three were inseparable. Callie was especially happy about that.

It'd been weird for Callie to introduce Zeliah and Hannah to the team. They were her adult friends while the other two were her 'tween' friends. She still spent a lot of time with the Wordsworth girls. The four of them love to hang out and she essentially became an adopted sister. Wordy and Shelly became more like second parents to her. In the same sense Sam and Jules were more like parents to her too.

It was a hard road for Jules to get back to the team. After she got out of the hospital she had to wait at least a month before she could get her cast off and another three weeks of pt before she could get back into running. When she finally did start running again, Callie Zeliah and Hannah ran with her before school.

Finally, two and a half months after the accident, Jules was ready to requalify for the SRU.

Having everyone there made her a little nervous, but Sam ran the course with her and Callie, Zeliah and Hannah ran next to it. "Jules is so cool! Zeliah had said excitedly as she watched. "I know." Callie smiled proudly.

After Jules passed it all easily, they had gathered at Jules' house to celebrate and they finally got to the UNO game Spike had been looking forward to for months.

When Callie sat down next to him grinning from ear to her he looked at her in horror. "Oh no you don't UNO monster." He got up and had Hannah switch seats with him. When she asked why he simply said, "you'll see."

Callie couldn't help but laugh. It was a big game, they had to have two decks for the eight people that played. Allie had begged Wordy to let her play so he did. Ed and Greg opted to man the grill while Shelly, Sophie, Dean and Clark kept the little girls entertained. Leah was hanging out with Sophie and Shelly in the backyard.

Zeliah, Hannah and Callie had been quite smitten with Clark and Dean when they all met. They had huddled in the corner talking behind covered mouths. Sophie had walked by them and then Ed and Greg and said, "lock up your sons," as she looked back at the giggling girls. Greg and Ed had shared a look and a laugh.

"What? Again!?" Hannah cried as Callie laid down yet another draw two. "What do you hoard those things or something?"

Spike laughed and pointed at her. "Now you know why." His smile faded when Zeliah played a wild draw four. "How about yellow?"

Spike narrowed his eyes at her then looked at Sam, Jules and Wordy who were laughing hysterically. "It's a conspiracy!"

Callie couldn't help but laugh. She looked around at the chaos of everyone being in the house together and thought, "there's nowhere else I'd rather be.

It wasn't until a couple of months later, when bombs started going off all over the city that she had to worry about being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

 **AN** : I hope you liked it! And stay tuned! As hinted here, there may be another Callie story before too long!


End file.
